Spy in the Dark
by hazelsherlock
Summary: Starting their seventh year at Hogwarts as Head boy and girl, Hermione and Draco can't help but feel the tension of romance rising between them, especially as Draco has to take Hermione to the Winter Ball... but will him receiving the Dark Mark change everything? rated M for adult themes. Dramonie. All credit to JK Rowling.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **A bit of background for you. They've started in seventh year, but Draco didn't get the dark mark last year and fix the vanishing cabinet, so Dumbledore is still alive. Hermione wasn't upset about Ron and Lavender. The Golden Trio haven't been sent off to find the horcruxes, as the Order are doing that. Lupin is the DADA teacher. Harry's going out with Ginny.

CHAPTER 1-

As I ran through the wall and out onto platform 9 ¾ and looked up at the shining Hogwarts Express, and I somehow knew that this year was going to be different. I stood on my tiptoes to look around for my three best friends to tell them my good news. _There's no point in trying to look for Harry: loads of people have black hair. Look for Ron and Ginny._ And sure enough, I found two bright red heads walking in the sea of browns, blonds and blacks. I rushed over to them, taking my trunk and Crookshanks with me.

'Hey, guys!' I took them all in at once. Ron looked as scruffy as ever in baggy jeans and a Chudely Cannons t-shirt; Harry, being his mirror image, wearing only a more muggle t-shirt and a jacket, and was clutching Ginny's hand like she was his trophy. Ginny was looking gorgeous in a green strappy top and denim shorts, and engulfed me in a hug as soon as she saw me.

'And who the hell are you, may I ask?' I looked over at Ron after me and Ginny had finished hugging.

'Honestly, Ronald, it's me, Hermione.' _Have I really changed that much? _ I mean, I knew my hair was more curly than bushy this year, but I surely didn't look that different. Did I? I laughed and pulled Ron and Harry into a hug at the same time. 'Hey, do any of you lot know who the head boy is? I'm meant to sit in the Heads compartment with him, but I'd think I'd like to know who he is first.'

'Sorry, Hermione. I don't know. But we both made prefect!'

'Really? That's brilliant you too. I need to go now, McGonagall said she was coming to have a word with me and the head boy before we arrive at Hogwarts.'

'Oh okay, well I need to go and find Lavender anyway, and Harry needs to find Neville and ask him about that essay on Herbology that we needed to do.' I laughed. Well, we were back to normal then.

'Are you and Lavender still together then?'

'Yep. Are you still with Krum?' I shook my head, not wanting to talk about him, so I changed the subject.

'I really need to get to the Heads compartment. I'll see you at the feast, guys.' We all smiled and I got onto the train, finding the correct compartment straight away. I remembered walking past it on the train just before I met Harry and Ron for the first time in my first year. I so badly wanted to be Head Girl, and now I am. I opened the door and levitated my trunk up to the shelf and put Crookshanks down on the seat next to me. _Someone just please tell me who the Head Boy is! _I had been sat there for a few minutes, with the only activity being a first year that had no idea what they were doing, so I told him to go and find a compartment with some other first years in and just start talking so he could make some new friends.

I looked up from stroking Crookshanks to see Draco Malfoy enter the compartment. _Oh, brilliant. I get to spend a year living with him._ He levitated his trunk up next to mine and sat opposite me, looking at me up and down strangely. 'Who are you? I know every girl in the school, and I have no idea who you are.'

I pulled a Malfoy smirk at him. I wasn't the only one who had changed. He was wearing muggle clothing: baggy jeans, a tight white t-shirt and converse trainers. And his hair was no longer slicked back, just hanging naturally loose. The muscles on his arms were covered in scars, and I wanted to reach out to see if he was okay. _No. _Yes, you're right. This is Draco Malfoy we're talking about. After everything he's done to me and my friends, he does NOT deserve any of my sympathy.

'Clue: I punched you in the third year.' Malfoy cocked his head to one side and then his mouth formed a little 'o' in realization.

'I would never have guessed for a second that it was you, mudblood. You look… different. Then again, who else would be head girl in our year?' I hate Malfoy so much. It's our last year; surely he could find it in his heart somewhere to stop calling me mudblood? Good point. Malfoy stopping calling me names is about as likely as Snape not taking away points from Gryffindor this year. Besides, Malfoy doesn't even have a heart.

'Well, I was hoping that any boy in our year would have got head boy, as long as it wasn't you. You probably got your Dad to pay for your position anyway.' Yeah, that's right, Malfoy. I developed an attitude over summer.

'Hilarious, Granger. Actually, my Father had nothing to do with this. I earned this position, mudblood.'

I smirked at him again. 'Oh please, Malfoy. Get some new insults. You've been playing the mudblood card since second year: I'm rather bored of it now. Neville could come up with better insults than you.' Malfoy opened his mouth to retort back, but Professor McGonagall walked in before he could.

'Ah, Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger. I see you're getting on well.' Well, apparently she hasn't been listening in our conversation. 'Now, as Head boy and girl, you will have more duties than the prefects, but they are fairly similar. You will patrol all of the school on Tuesday and Thursday nights starting from eight o'clock, and you have an extended curfew of one o'clock in the morning. You also have access to the Restricted Section in the library, and you also get your own bedroom, common room and bathroom.' Yes! Access to the Restricted Section! 'However, we would like to promote house unity, and we know that all of the houses- particularly Gryffindor and Slytherin- are not on good terms with each other. We would like you to act civil towards each other. Also, this year we are having a winter ball. It will be down to you two to organise it, and it will be held on the night of the nineteenth of December; the last night before people go home for Christmas. Again, to promote house unity, you will go together.'

'What?' We both shouted. Theirs is no way I'm dancing with ferret boy over there.

'It is decided. At the end of the welcome feast, come up to the Head table in the Great Hall and Dumbledore will show you to your quarters. Enjoy the rest of the journey.' McGonagall left us staring at the position which she was stood in.

'Does she mean we just have to walk in with each other? I don't want to dance with you, Granger.'

'No, we have to dance. I went to the winter ball last year with Ron. The head boy and girl lead the first dance, but after that, I don't think it matters.' Malfoy sighed and leaned back in his seat.

'Great.' I looked up at him to see a look of worry in his eyes.

'If you're really that worried about what your friends will think of you, just tell them that you have to as you're Head boy.'

'It's not that I'm worried about.'

'Well, what is it then? I'm not that bad at dancing.' Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but shook his head and looked out of the window. _Well, clearly, he's not going to tell you anytime soon._ I pulled a book out of bag and began to read, occasionally glancing up at him to find that he was briefly staring at me.

'When we get to the station, I'll get the first years to Hagrid and you can get the second years to go up to the carriages as they won't have done it before.'

'Okay, Granger.'

'Wow, ten minutes without calling me mudblood. Is this a new record for you?'

'Well, I worked out if we're to be civil to each other, I should probably stop calling you that.' I nodded and walked out of the compartment to go and put my robes on. When I came back, I found Malfoy sat in my seat, playing with Crookshanks.

'What are you doing?'

'Playing with your cat apparently. What's it called?'

'Crookshanks.' I sat down in his seat and stared strangely at him to find that he had changed into his robes while I had been gone, and he was sort of… smiling, as Crookshanks playfully bit his hands. 'Do you have a pet?'

'I have an owl, but it she kind of sits and does nothing other than carry mail.' I smiled and the train pulled to a stop. 'Shall I put him in his basket?' I nodded and Malfoy did, leaving it on his chair. 'Come on. I'll see you at the head table after the feast then?'

'Yeah. Bye, Malfoy.' I began to help Hagrid round up the first years and I watched Malfoy out of the corner of my eye as he pointed all of the second years to where the carriages were. As the last first years were climbing in the boats, Malfoy got in a carriage and went up to the castle. _You may be being civil to each other, but why would he wait for you? _Luckily, Hagrid invited me into one of the boats with him, and I quickly walked into the Great Hall before the sorting ceremony took place, sitting in between Ginny and Neville.

'How was Malfoy?' Harry whispered across the table at me. 'Did he hurt you?'

'No. He's quite tolerable actually, and Crookshanks seems to like him.' Harry narrowed his eyes slightly and the first years walked in, looking up and marvelling at the ceiling.

'… bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read it in Hogwarts: A History…' A first year girl walked past the Gryffindor table, boasting about her knowledge top the people around her.

'And mini Hermione has just walked past.'

'Shut up, Ginny.' The first years were sorted into the houses following an announcement that Lupin would once again be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and the feast began, Ron and Harry stuffing their faces as per usual. I talked with Lavender, Pavarti and Ginny about their summers as the lads around us discussed the Quidditch try-outs this year. When the feast ended I went up to the Head table, to find Malfoy already waiting there. He smiled a little at me and I felt something inside of me flip. I smiled back and looked away, finding myself blushing slightly.

'Ah, Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger. Please follow me.' We followed Professor McGonagall up to the fifth floor, the same floor as the Gryffindor common room, and she left us standing at a portrait of a boy of our age dressed in Hogwarts uniform, telling us that we could choose the password.

'What about Crookshanks?' Malfoy suggested.

'No, that's too obvious. What's your owl called?'

'Sphinx. Why?'

'How about Crookinx? It'll be hard for anyone to guess.'

'Okay, Crookinx it is then.'

The portrait opened and we entered the common room to find a fire crackling away with two arm chairs opposite it, and a loveseat set further back. There was a desk underneath the window and a bookcase opposite it. There were two sets of stairs, each with a door at the top and in between the foot of them was a small table and a several chairs, all of which was either in a red, gold, green or silver colour. I ran up the right staircase and opened the door, to find my bedroom. 'The other one's yours, Malfoy.' I heard him faintly clamber up the left set of stairs as I marvelled at my bedroom for the year.

There was a double four poster bed in the middle with red and gold sheets. Opposite the foot of the bed was vanity and a mirror and next to it was a door, presumably leading to the bathroom. Off to one side of my bed was a wardrobe, and the other side had a bookcase, just waiting to be filled with all of my books. Next to the bookcase was a basket and food and water dishes for Crookshanks, which he was already asleep in. I turned to look at my two windows, which turned out to be two doors leading out onto a little balcony with a bench on it. I leaned against the hand railing and looked out onto the grounds of Hogwarts, seeing Hagrid's hut, the stone circle and the path leading up to the owlery.

There was a knock on my door, but I was too engrossed in the scenery to go and answer it. 'Granger?' They knocked louder, but I carried on looking outside. 'Oi, Granger!' Malfoy sounded worried about me. _Come of it, Hermione. Why would he be worried about you? _I ignored him and carried on staring at the school grounds, seeing Hagrid take Fluffy on a walk. 'Hermione?' Malfoy came in my room and turned around to see him approach me. 'Third time lucky. What are you doing?'

'Just looking. Is your room like mine?'

'Yeah, a bit. Go and have a look if you want.' I smiled and bounded across the common room into Malfoy's room to see that it was almost exactly the same as mine, except all of the room was green and silver, and the vanity was desk. Next to the door to the balcony was sat an owl, cuter than Hedwig, on a perch. It was Malfoy's lovely Barn owl, Sphinx. I stroked the side of her face when I realised that Draco had called me Hermione before. _Oh, so it's Draco now, is it?_ I carried on stroking her when she hopped up on to my shoulder and nestled into my curly hair. I laughed and went back over to the balcony in my room to find Crookshanks curled around Draco's leg.

'I see likes you more than me.' I laughed and Draco stroked Sphinx.

'You called me Hermione before.' Draco paused for a brief second before resuming.

'Is that a problem?'

'No, it's not a problem, Draco.'

'I just thought that if we were being civil… you just called me Draco.'

'Do you prefer Malfoy?' Draco stopped stroking and scowled slightly.

'No, I don't want to be a Malfoy anymore. Draco is fine.' I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but I could tell that he didn't want to talk about it. We stayed out on the balcony, just staring at the beautiful surroundings, for what seemed like hours. Eventually, Draco took Sphinx off my shoulder and said he was going to bed. I picked up Crookshanks and watched him leave. Just as he got to the door, he turned around. 'Thank you.'

'What for?' Draco smiled and left, closing the door behind him. I smiled to myself and put Crookshanks in his basket and got in bed. I'll ask him tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thank you to my reviewers **Hermione Granger is awesomenes** and someone on a **Guest **account. **Impulse53669: **I'll try not to make it too angsty.

CHAPTER 2-

'How was Malfoy last night?'

'Ermm… he was kind of… normal, to be honest.' I was sat at the Gryffindor table the following morning having breakfast when Harry began talking to me. I would have said nice, but I don't think Draco would have appreciated me telling everyone that he was nice, so I just stuck with normal.

'Really?'

'Yeah, he err… looked after Crookshanks whilst I took a shower. He doesn't like being left alone when he's in a new place.' Okay, I lied. But I wasn't about to tell the whole of Gryffindor house that we stood out on a balcony for about an hour with our pets without throwing insults at each other, was I? Harry raised his eyebrows but carried on eating his toast regardless. 'Anyway, we need to get to Transfiguration.' Harry and Ron stared at me, then continued to eat. 'Now!' They both sighed and picked up the bags, toast still in hand, and followed me out of the Great Hall.

'You know, if Malfoy was picking on you Hermione, you can tell us.' We had walked through the grounds and up the stairs in the clockwork tower to get to the secret passage by transfiguration.

'He wasn't. Flaming earwigs.' The portrait opened and we found ourselves by Herbology. 'But, we've decided to call each other by our first names. Professor McGonagall wants to promote house unity, so we've decided to call a truce. We may as well because he has to take me to the Winter Ball.' We walked through the double doors and out into the Transfiguration courtyard and across it to the classroom.

'What?!' They both exclaimed.

'You must remember last year at the ball. The Head boy and girl are the last to enter and they lead the first dance. But I'm free for the rest of the night, so don't think I won't be dancing with both of you!' They both rolled their eyes as we queued up outside the classroom. 'Well, I'm sure Ginny and Lavender will want to dance with you at some point, so you may as well dance with me too.'

'Class, come in.' McGonagall came out of the classroom and we all followed her back in, lining against the far wall so she could out us in our places. 'Now, as you may know, we are trying to promote house unity this year, so you will be placed with someone in the opposite house for the entire year.' Oh, brilliant. I'll give you three guesses as to who I'll be with then. 'Now, on this desk, we'll have Potter and Parkinson, this one, Granger and Malfoy. Behind them we'll have Weasley and Bulstrode, then Patil and Zabini, Brown and Goyle, Greengrass and Longbottom and finally Thomas and Nott.' I rolled my eyes and took a seat at the front of the class next to Draco. Luckily, I was opposite Harry.

'I'm not happy about this either, Hermione. It's enough that I have to live with you and take you to the Winter Ball. Just grin and bear it.' I nodded and took out my books.

'Now, as part of your NEWTS, there will be a written and practical examination. We will spend up until Halloween doing the practical part, then you will learn everything that is needed for the written examination from then until the end of the year. Now, for the practical part, one of you will need to turn the person sitting next to you into an animal for twelve hours. The animal must reflect their personality. It's no good turning someone who's mischievous into a rabbit. You will also need to produce a poster on the animal and a poster on how the spell is carried out. You will then be required to write a two part essay on how the incantation faired and how the person felt as the animal to be done after the experiment. I will now come round and tell you which person will be turned into an animal.'

I sighed and watched McGonagall talk to Harry and Pansy about which one of them would be the animal. 'If it's me, what kind of animal do you think I would be?'

I turned to look at Draco. 'Hmm… maybe a snake, but I think that might just be because you're in Slytherin. What about a fox? They're sly.' Draco smirked, but instead of it making me feel horrible about myself, it kind of made me want to laugh. 'What animal would I be?'

'Err… a cat.' I raised my eyebrows at him. 'Well, you're a warm person, can tell when people are upset, you're independent, nice and cruel at the appropriate times and can pack a punch. And you're quite cute.' Draco tucked a curl behind my ear and I looked at him strangely. 'Sorry…' I narrowed my eyes at him but before I could get a chance to ask why he was apologising, McGonagall had appeared at the front of our desk.

'Miss Granger, pick a straw.' McGonagall held out her fisted hand containing two straws. I picked one and Draco took the other. His was a lot shorter than mine. 'Miss Granger will be turning you into an animal, Mr Malfoy. In several weeks' time, you must be here at nine in the morning to cast the spell. Miss Granger will carry you around school with her that day and you will sit with her as an animal in all of her lessons. The spell will fade at nine at night, so make sure that you're in your dormitory or common room by that time.' McGonagall took the straws off us and went to talk to Ron and Millicent behind us when Astoria sauntered up to our desk.

'Hey, Draco.' Astoria stood in front of Draco, looking adoringly at him. 'Did you have a good summer? You wouldn't talk to me yesterday at the feast. How about I come to your dormitory tonight and catch up with you?' She fluttered her eyelashes at him and Draco simply grabbed his text book.

'Yes, my summer was fine, but I can't do tonight. Me and Hermione have to start planning the Winter Ball. Right, Hermione?' Draco's looked at me with pleading eyes to say yes.

'Yes, we need to make a start on it. Why don't you come around another time, Greengrass? Or better still, invite Draco to the Slytherin common room one night so I won't… disturb you.'

'What a brilliant idea, Mudblood. Thanks.' She smirked at me walked away, swishing her skirt as she went. I turned to look at Draco but he was gripping his quill tightly, and looked like he was about to break it.

'Draco…' I put my hand on top of his and he relaxed. 'Are you okay?'

'Yes, fine. So, a fox then…'

The rest of the transfiguration lesson went smoothly, as did the rest of the day, but I was still pondering over what happened with Astoria. Draco wasn't acting himself. Normally, I bet he would have jumped at the chance to spend the night with someone like Astoria. She was pretty, in Slytherin, pureblood and her family was rich. So what was his problem?

I was sat on the loveseat in the Head's common room reading a book about foxes at about eight o'clock when Draco came in. 'Shall we start planning the ball then?'

'Oh, I thought you were joking about that.' Draco looked at me strangely and sat on the edge of the loveseat. 'Why did you not want to meet with Astoria? She seems like the type of girl that you would go for.' He turned around to look at me.

'I'm not allowed to date anyone, and if I was, I wouldn't go out with Astoria. She's so annoying.'

'Why are you not allowed to date anyone?' I put the book down and shimmied to the edge of loveseat until I was sat next to Draco.

'I'm enga…' He mumbled something, but I couldn't tell what he was saying.

'What?' He mumbled again, it was a little clearer this time, but I still couldn't make out what I was saying. 'Speak up, Draco.'

'I'm engaged to Pansy!' Draco shouted at me and rose from the loveseat and began to walk towards the stairs but stopped at the foot of them. 'My father had it arranged it over the summer. I have no choice in the matter. I don't mind Pansy, she's got less annoying over the years, but I don't like her enough to marry her. I know this will sound strange coming from me, but… I want to marry for… love. I'm not really bothered if they have a lot of money.' But you'd want them to be pureblood…

Regardless of that fact and the constant bullying over the six years, I felt sorry for him and I got up and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

'You know, if you ever need to talk about anything, you can tell me. It's not good to keep it all to yourself. And, believe it or not, I don't actually tell Harry and Ron everything.'

'Thanks, Hermione. I'll just go and get changed then we'll start planning.' I nodded and he slipped out of my hold on his shoulder and went up to his room.

He seems different this year…


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Thanks to my reviewer for the last chapter who doesn't have an account but was called **Anonymous**.

CHAPTER 3-

'So, the ball.' I came downstairs a few minutes later wearing jeans and a Quidditch t-shirt to find Hermione curled up on the loveseat reading the book about foxes again. She looked up at me and smiled as I joined her once more on the loveseat.

'What colour scheme shall we have the great hall?'

'Ermm, how about a Winter Wonderland theme? You know, white, grey and blue.' Hermione nodded and smiled, writing it down on a piece of parchment she had taken out of the front of the book on foxes. 'There should be a Christmas tree in the corner by the teacher's deck, white with blue decorations. And the tables and chairs should be set out like they were at the Yule Ball in our fourth year…' I went on and on and on about every last detail, with Hermione agreeing with everything and writing it down eagerly. 'Is there anything else you want to add?'

'Nope. If I'm being honest, I didn't really want to organise it. It would remind me to much of Viktor.' For some strange reason, I felt my heart sink when she said her boyfriend's name. What's wrong with you Draco?

Before I could stop myself, I found myself asking her something. 'Are you and Krum still together then?'

'No, I finished him over the summer. He was taking the relationship too fast. Besides, I only kind of went to the Yule Ball with him because he made me feel special and wanted, and because I didn't have a date, but I didn't have any feelings for him. When he left after the tournament, I told him I'd keep in touch because he was a good person to have a conversation with, but he took to mean that we were dating.' She sighed. _You're in with a chance now._ What?! I do NOT like Hermione. She's just a muggleborn who's really clever. _Oh, so what happened to filthy little mudblood? _Shut up.

'Are you okay?' She nodded and smiled.

'More to the point, are you okay?'

I narrowed my eyes at her. 'What do you mean?'

'You're being forced to marry someone you don't want to, and on the Hogwarts Express, I saw scars and scratches up your arms. I can see them now.' I sighed and pulled of my t-shirt to reveal my toned chest and arms from the many hours of intense Quidditch practice, as well as the scars, scratched and bruises that my Dad had caused. Hermione gasped, both of her hands going up to her mouth.

'It's not as bad as it looks.' She faintly traced a scratch on my back and winced. 'Okay, it hurts a lot.'

'Who did this to you?'

'Would you believe me if I said I feel into bush full of thorns whilst flying on my broom?'

'I doubt you'd ever fall of your broom, and if you did, the bruises still wouldn't add up. Who did this to you, Draco?' She said my name so beautifully and full of sympathy, so much so that I felt my heart leap slightly. _And what does that mean…?_

'My father. I refused to marry Pansy, so he hit me. I eventually agreed. Then he wanted me to get the Dark Mark. I said no. I told him I didn't want to follow Voldermort. But all he could say was that if a war ever came, the Dark side would win, so becoming a death eater would ensure my survival. I told him no again. So he hurt me, but not with magic. He scratched my arms and back with a dagger.' I turned to look at Hermione to find her crying silent tears. 'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…' Before I knew what I was doing, I had pulled her into a hug, letting her cry onto my pale porcelain skin. I rested my head in her nest of curls, where frizz once sat, and smelt her shampoo: strawberries. She eventually pulled away from me, drying her eyes. I reached for my t-shirt, but she put her hand on top of mine.

'Do you want me to heal your cuts and bruises?'

'Do you know how to?'

'Yes. I want to be healer at St. Mungo's when I leave.' I smiled and left my t-shirt and Hermione got out her wand, slowly healing everything so all I was left with was scars. 'Done. Just make sure you only take showers in here and not the Quidditch locker rooms until more of the scars have healed up.'

'Thank you, Hermione.' I put my t-shirt back on and began to climb my stairs. Just as I reached my door, I turned around and smiled at her. 'Good night.'

'Good night, Draco.' She smiled and I closed the door behind me, sinking down until I was sat on the floor, the sound of my heart beating in my ears. _Oh, Draco's found love. _What?! Are you crazy? She's just a beautiful, clever, talented- _So, not pig ugly, stupid and idiotic anymore? Why the change of heart, Draco? _Don't bother, I'm not falling for her. _I beg to differ…_

'Shut up!' I put my hand to my mouth realising I had shouted that instead of saying it in my head. I put my ear to the door to hear if Hermione had moved. I couldn't hear anything at all. Slowly opening the door, I peered down into the common room to find that Hermione had fallen asleep. I shook my head and laughed. Softly running down the stone steps, I walked towards her sleeping form and carefully picked up her and her wand which she'd left beside her. Hermione stirred slightly as I pulled her close to me, but fortunately, she didn't wake. I sighed into her soft, strawberry curls then carried her up the other set of stairs to her bedroom.

I opened the door to find it almost exactly the same as the other night, apart from the sheets being a little rumpled on her bed. Shooing Crookshanks away, I pulled back the covers and gently put her in her bed, covering her up once more. I began to leave, only to realise that I was still holding her wand. I turned back and left the brown-white stick on her bedside table and left, not before glancing once more at her peaceful sleeping form. Wow, she's beautiful. _Really? _How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Sorry it's been a while since my last update, but me and my beta were on holiday without internet. Thanks to my reviewers, **Roselovestark **and **shaymars**.

CHAPTER 4-

'Welcome, class, to your first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson. From your third year at Hogwarts, you'll know me as Professor Lupin.' I had got up early that morning, ready for classes again. Hermione had already gone by the time I had got up, making me both happy and sad. Happy because I didn't want to talk about my scars, but sad because I wanted to see her beautiful face again. _And here he goes again. _Shut up. 'And don't worry, I'm not going to turn into a werewolf halfway through class and try to eat you. The next full moon isn't until the Christmas holidays, which I will not be staying at Hogwarts, so if you're worried about staying over the Christmas break, don't. Now, part of the syllabus you'll need for your N.E.W.T's is boggarts.'

A slight cheer was shared between the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's. 'Now, I know that due to some unforeseen events in your third year, not all of you got a chance to have a go, so the boggart is in a cupboard in my store room, and you will all take it in turns at seeing your worst fear and turning it into something you find funny. In the meantime, you can start on your essay about how and why boggarts change into your worst fear. I want 12 inches of parchment on it and it will be for next lesson. Now, will the front row line up at my store room door. Mr Thomas, this way please…'

I watched Lupin and Dean Thomas disappear into the store room, just seeing the cupboard containing the boggart shake a little. Blaise, sat beside me, passed me a text book and I began to write, ignoring Astoria's pleas' of help one seat down from me.

'For Merlin's sake, Greengrass! Shut up! I can't concentrate with you whining at Draco like a five year old!' Hermione had turned around from the second row to address Astoria who was sat directly behind me.

'And why should I do that, Mudblood?' Astoria smirked and Hermione turned slightly red. I felt my grip on my quill tighten slightly, but I managed to keep from punching Astoria for calling her that name.

'What? You honestly think being a spoilt pureblood up their own arse is better do you?' Astoria narrowed her eyes and looked down at her parchment, silently telling Hermione that she had won. Lupin came out of his store room a few seconds later, inviting the second row, including Hermione to line up at the door. When Hermione had gone in to face her fear, after Potter and Weasel had come out, Astoria came around to the front of my desk to have a word with me.

'Well?' I looked up and raised my eyebrows at her, not really wanting to speak to her. 'Why didn't you defend me when that mudblood said those things to me?' I opened my mouth to tell her that we were trying to promote house unity and if she ever called Hermione that again she'd be in detention for the rest of the year, but Potter and Weasel had beaten me to it.

'Don't you ever call her that again, Greengrass.' They had both of their wands pointed at her throat and she was about to retort, but Hermione burst out of the store room, and ran out of the room crying. 'Hermione!' Potter and Weasel ran after her and I watched as she left, wishing I could go and comfort her too.

'Okay, next row.' My row stood and lined up, with Astoria going first, followed by Pansy, me, Blaise, Crabbe and then Goyle. Astoria came out looking pleased with herself, but Pansy looked like she was going to faint. She probably saw married life with me. I sighed and entered the store room, the boggart changing before my eyes. It settled on two figures, Hermione and Krum, kissing. It horrified me to the core and I took out my wand and cast ridiculous, changing it into Krum wearing a clown outfit. Lupin stared at me strangely as I left the store room, but couldn't question me about my boggart as Blaise had already entered. I set to work on my essay telling Astoria to shut up at least five times.

'Mr Malfoy, can I have a word with you please?' I nodded as the rest of the class left, leaving me, Lupin and Hermione, Potter and Weasel's things. 'I suppose you want to talk about your boggart.' I nodded.

'I didn't get it. Why would I be afraid of Hermione and Krum kissing?'

'Well, either you're afraid of kissing, you're afraid of someone else kissing Hermione, or you're afraid of someone else kissing Viktor.'

'Professor, I'm straight.'

'I thought as much, so we can rule out the last idea. We can also rule out the first too, as apparently you're the sex god of Slytherin or something.' I smirked slightly at what Lupin had said. 'So we can only come to one conclusion: you're afraid of someone else kissing Hermione, especially Viktor. I heard from Harry that they dated.'

'Why would I be afraid of someone else kissing Hermione?'

'Do you have a crush on her?' I opened my mouth to speak, but found nothing came out. 'You see, if the answer was no, you would have by now said something along the lines of "Why would a pureblood like me ever be interested in a mudblood like her?"' I nodded my head in agreement and found myself putting away the Golden trio's things in their bags.

'Can you not tell anyone, Professor? My father would kill me if he ever found out.' He nodded and smiled.

'I understand, Draco. Now, I must find Miss Granger and talk with her about her boggart.'

'Was it really bad?'

'All boggarts are bad. Hers was... disturbing.' As if on cue, Hermione, Potter and Weasel all entered; Hermione's face still tear stained. 'Thank you, for your help, Draco, you may go.' I nodded and left, waiting outside the classroom. Potter and Weasel left a few minutes after, looking at me in disgust.

'Is Hermione okay?' I realised my voice sounded too concerned, so I added my Malfoy smirk on the end of it.

'Why do you care?'

'Because I have to live with her. I don't want her crying all night. Is she on her period or something?' The two boys scowled at me and reached for their wands before I held up my hands in protest. 'Okay, I'm going.' I ran down the stairs and left to go to charms, deciding before lunch I'd go to the library to get some more books on foxes for the Transfiguration project. Hopefully that would make Hermione happier.

After talking with Blaise after dinner that night, I had a conversation with the portrait that led to the Head's common room. 'Hello, Draco.'

'Er, hi. Who are you? You don't have a name plaque or anything…'

'You don't recognise me?' I shook my head and the teenager in the portrait sighed. 'I'm Albus Dumbledore, head boy of Hogwarts.' I stepped back slightly, not being able to believe that this guy with blond hair and his shirt hanging out was Dumbledore.

'Oh, err, hi, Professor.'

'Please, call me Al. Now, about the young Miss Granger. To me, it's blatantly obvious how much she means to you, so why don't you just tell her?'

'Because I'm engaged to Pansy and Astoria won't leave me alone.'

'So? You hate Astoria, and Pansy's just a good friend now. You're practically in love with Hermione.'

'Will you keep your voice down?!' I whispered angrily at Al as a group of Hufflepuffs who were walking past looked at me strangely. Al grinned. 'Can I go in now after you've finished giving me dating advice?'

'Password?'

'Crookinx.' He smiled and let me enter. I saw Hermione straight away: she was sat on the red armchair by the fire, looking into its' depths with a cup of something hot sitting on the arm of the chair. I sat down in the green arm chair opposite her, making a drama of putting down my school bag down on the floor so she would notice me. She eventually looked up at me.

'Were you shouting at the portrait?' I nodded. 'Why?'

'It was annoying me.' She smiled and sipped her drink. 'What's that?'

'Hot chocolate. I brought it up from the kitchens before.' I looked at her confused. 'It's a Gryffindor secret. If you carry on being nice to me, I might show you one day.' We both smiled and stared into the fire.

'Do you want to talk about what happened in Defence against the Dark Arts today?'

'Do you mean with Greengrass, or with my boggart?

'Your boggart.' Hermione shook her head. I leaned forward, feeling my face fall into a concerned expression. 'You know, after I told you what happened with my Dad over the summer, I felt much better about it.' I paused. 'Do Harry and Ron know?' Woah. I can't believe I just called them by their first names. It sounds foreign.

'No, they don't. Like I said I don't tell them everything.' She sighed and finished off the last of her hot chocolate. 'I just need some time to think and contemplate the potential outcomes before I tell anyone.' Hermione got up and put the mug on the table at the back of the room behind the loveseat then she began to ascend her stairs.

'I went to the library before lunch and got some books on foxes.' She turned around and smiled.

'Thank you, Draco. I'm too tired to do any of the project now though. When do you have Quidditch practice?'

'Ermm… Saturday morning and Sunday night.'

'We'll do it on Saturday night then.' I nodded my head and she went up the stairs. 'Good night, Draco.'

'Night, Hermione.'

I HAVE to find out what she's hiding…


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5-

And, fair enough, I did.

On Thursday night, at about eight o'clock, I knocked on Hermione's door, but she didn't answer. 'Hermione?' I knocked again, but I heard nothing. She must be out on her balcony. I sighed and opened the door and found her sat on the floor next to her bed with a box open in front of her and a letter in her hand, tears running down her beautiful face. 'Hermione, what's wrong?'

'Oh, nothing.' She folded the letter in half, put it in the box and slid it under her bed. 'What is it?' She quickly wiped away her tears and stood up, giving me a smile.

'Professor Dumbledore wants to see us in his office now with our plans for the Winter ball.' She nodded and began to root through a draw.

'I'll be down in the common room in a minute, I'll just get the plans.' I nodded and left, shutting the door behind me. The answer to whatever's wrong with her is in that box. I know it.

I spied my chance to find out the following day in potions. Snape was practically my father's best friend, so when I told him I had left my potions homework in my dormitory, he let me go and get it. Hermione was busy helping Neville make his potion so she didn't even see me leave.

I ran up the stairs and ignored Al's questions as to why I was running so fast. I entered the dormitory and ran straight up the stairs to Hermione's room. _So, now you're sneaking in to her room. Are you trying to look at her underwear or something? _No! I want to look at that box. I crouched on the floor by her bed and pulled out the box that she had been looking through the previous night. It mainly held letters from her parents and photos of her with Potter and the Weasels. Right on top though in the centre were letters in very bad English, but it was understandable enough to read. They were all from Krum.

I read the most recent one and was horrified by the end of it. Krum was coming to visit Hermione at Hogwarts this Saturday night. _That horrifies you? _Be quiet, I haven't finished. And, from what I got from the letters, Krum was implying he was going to rape Hermione. I dropped the letter and pinched myself. No, this was real. I found the other letters from him, starting off sweet and dating back to the summer in between our fourth and fifth year, and they carried on as sweet right up until the start of this school year. There were several letters from him, all implying the same thing: rape. She had received one every week, and it was a week until Halloween now. I took the most recent one and put it under the pillow on my bed so I could confront Hermione tonight.

Walking towards the portrait door, I realised I had forgotten to get my potions essay. I sighed a turned around, grabbing it from the table at the back of the room. On the way back to potions, I begun to think of way to confront Hermione.

My last lesson of the day was Transfiguration, so of course, Hermione was there. I walked over to our desk and carried on with the poster, drawing a picture of a fox in the centre. Hermione came in with Potter and Weasel, smiling all the way. I sighed. _I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that she's probably in love with one of those to. _I didn't ask for your input here. I carried on drawing and Hermione sat next to me. Looking at her out of the corner of my eye, I could see that only her mouth was smiling, not anywhere else on her face. When she usually smiled, it reached her eyes and they had a glint in them. But not today.

I was still contemplating how to confront Hermione tonight when she caught me off guard. 'Are you okay, Draco? You seem a bit, off.'

'Oh, yeah, I'm fine. My father just wanted to know what colour I wanted my dress robes for my engagement party.' Hermione nodded and looked away, writing some information down about foxes. 'What time do you finish your patrols tonight?'

'At about nine o'clock. Why?'

'I need to talk to you about something. Can you meet me at ten past nine in the common room.' She nodded and went back to writing.

'Drakeyyy…' I groaned at the sound of Astoria's voice and Hermione started giggling. I smiled and by the time Astoria had got to our desk, we were both laughing. 'What's so funny, Drakey?'

Hermione managed to stop before me. 'You, Greengrass.'

'I didn't ask you, mudblood.' Astoria looked at Hermione with a hint of cruelty in her eyes and I had to restrain myself from reaching for my wand. 'Anyway, I don't want to carry Longbottom around for the whole day when I turn him into a rabbit next lesson, so I was wondering if you could swap with him?' Astoria fluttered her eyelashes at me in a completely unflattering way.

'No. Get lost, Astoria.' She rolled her eyes and walked off.

'What do you need to talk to me about?'

'You'll find out tonight.'

'Class,' We all looked to the front of the room wear Professor McGonagall was sat. 'next Friday you will perform the spell, so please by preparing over the weekend and over the next week. You may go.' Hermione looked at me suspiciously but grabbed her bag and left with Potter and Weasel. I sighed and packed my own stuff away and left, only to find Astoria leant against the wall waiting for me.

'Hi, Drakey. I hate that stupid mudblood, she keeps on interrupting me when I try and talk to you.' I couldn't hold my anger back any longer and held my wand to Astoria's throat.

'Do not ever call her a mudblood again.' I took my wand away and went to the Slytherin common room for a much needed catch up with Blaise. If Astoria turns up in there, she better go straight out again or I may actually curse her.

At five past nine, I was sat in my arm chair, waiting for Hermione to finish her rounds. I had the letter folded up in the back pocket of my jeans and I was ready to ask her about it, but I felt stupid at the same time. What if invading her privacy meant it ruined my chances with her? _Draco, you ruined your chances with her from the word go. You're in Slytherin. You're a Malfoy. You tried to make her life a living hell. Just forget about her and marry Pansy already._ There is no way I'm marrying Pansy. Or Astoria for that matter.

The portrait opened and Hermione entered, sitting down in her arm chair opposite me with a curious look on her face. 'What do you want to talk about?'

'About why you're upset.'

She sighed and curled up in the arm chair. 'Draco, I can't tell you. Harry and Ron don't even know. I'm not sure I will tell them.'

'Well, I think you need to tell someone soon, or it may be too late. Saturday's the big day, right?' Hermione's head snapped up and she looked me straight in the eye.

'How do you know that?' Hermione's voice was shaking and I could tell that she was on the brink of tears.

'In potions today, I came back up to the common room to get my homework. I also went in your room to find out why you were upset. I found this.' I took the letter out of my pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it and face was horror stricken as she realised what it was.

'How dare you! You had no right!' She got up and began to run towards her stairs.

'That's why you ran out crying during the boggart lesson.' She stopped running and froze. 'You saw Krum raping you.' Hermione nodded and half turned to me. 'What are you going to do about it?' Hermione shrugged her shoulders before running to me and crying into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, breathing in the scent once again of her Strawberry shampoo.

'I don't know, Draco… I can't tell the teachers, he'll kill me, and I can't just refuse him when he gets here on Saturday, because he'll do it anyway.'

'Why don't you go to Hogsmeade for the day?'

'He's coming at night. Even we aren't allowed out of the school at night.' I guided her back over to her red armchair, kneeling down in front of her.

'Does Potter really have an invisibility cloak?'

'Yes. Why?'

'Here's what we're going to do…'


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Thank you to my reviewer **Roselovestark**!

CHAPTER 6-

The plan was set in place, all we had to do now, was wait. And for Hermione to keep calm. If Krum suspected anything, it would be over before we could even begin to carry out our plan.

It was five minutes until Krum was supposed to arrive, and she was pacing the common room with her nervousness. 'Hermione, you need to keep calm. He's not going to rape you. I'll save you.' I grabbed her by the arms, she breathed deeply and nodded.

'Thank you, Draco.'

'What for?'

'For helping me. Until now, I never thought you'd do this for me. Or anyone, actually.' I laughed.

'Like I said, I changed over the summer. I'll go and get in position.' We both smiled and I climbed the stairs to Hermione's room, giving her one last look before I entered. I pulled the invisibility cloak on and left Hermione's door wide open so I could see what would unfold before Krum made her go in her bedroom with him. There was a knock at the portrait door. Hermione got up and opened the portrait, smiling at the face of the villain himself: Viktor Krum.

'Viktor! Come in!' He stepped past her, handing her a wilted bunch of carnations. 'Oh, they're lovely, thank you.' Hermione put them on the table at the back of the room and sat down in her armchair. 'So, what should we talk about then?'

'Which is your room?' He grunted.

'Oh, the one with the door open. S-'

'Is your room mate out?'

'What, Draco? Yeah, he's got Quidditch practice, and they practice until midnight.' She half-heartedly laughed and I shook my head slowly. She is a really bad actress… Krum grabbed her hand and dragged her behind him up the stairs. I stepped back out of the way, further into Hermione's room so I was well out of the way of Hermione's doorway and bed.

Krum fiercely kissed Hermione and something inside me broke. _I think that was your heart, Draco._ Shut it, I need to concentrate. He threw Hermione onto her bed, and she landed against the head board with a loud thump. 'Viktor, please, I don't want to do this. And neither do you really.' He laughed, like the way I used to.

'I've wanted to have sex with you since I met you. I have been patient and waited, but you're still not ready.' Krum crawled onto the bed so he was crouched over the top of her: I clutched my wand underneath the cloak. 'But I no longer care. So, I'll have to rape you.' Hermione squealed and squirmed underneath him, but before she could get off the bed, he had taken out his wand and muttered a charm that sliced the straps on her top off.

That's it! I threw the cloak off and cast expelliarmus, making Krum's wand land in my hand. 'Who the hell are you?' Krum's momentary distraction was enough for Hermione to scramble out from underneath him and she ran behind me, silently crying.

'Draco Malfoy.' He knelt up on the bed and opened his mouth to speak, but I cast Petrificus Totalus on him, snapping his arms and legs together. 'Come on, Hermione. We need to get to Dumbledore.' I turned to look at her and she was stood in her jeans and bra, shaking all over. I took my Slytherin jumper off and handed it to her, locking the two balcony doors and the bathroom door and taking his wand so Krum couldn't escape. Hermione had left her room, holding my jumper to her chest, still shaking. I left after her, locking the door behind me and carrying Krum's wand.

'Hermione. Put it on. You can't walk through the corridors in your bra.' She was clutching my jumper close to her chest, so I gently eased it out of her hands and slowly put it on her. 'If you need to hold on to something, you can hold on to me, okay?' Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times before running to me, crying into my t-shirt. I put and arm around her and began to walk as quickly as I could with her latched on to me.

'Al,' I said to the portrait when we left. 'that boy that came in here before, if he by some miracle gets out, alert all of the portraits and teachers.' He nodded.

'Yes, Draco. Is Hermione okay?'

'She will be.' I ran down the stairs, Hermione still clinging to me, receiving stares off everyone on their way up to their dormitories as it was almost curfew. As we got closer to Dumbledore's office, Potter and Weasel blocked our way.

'Hermione!' Harry tried to take her off me, but she just moaned, carried on crying and clung to my arms tighter. 'What have you done to her?!'

'Nothing, Potter! It was Krum. He tried to rape her. If you really want to help get out of my way and go into the Head's dormitory to make sure he hasn't escaped. Password's Crookinx.' They nodded and tore up the many flights of stairs. 'Almost there Hermione…' She gasped quietly in my arms in between her sobs.

'Fudge.' I spoke the password to Dumbledore's office as soon as we arrived, and unfortunately, a staff meeting was going on, so we were greeted by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout and Flitwick.

'Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger. We are in the midst of a very important meeting. If it's about your preparations for the Winter Ball, they can wait.' Snape hissed at us from where he was sat, but the other Professors had all rose in concern.

'What is wrong with Miss Granger?'

'Viktor Krum tried to rape her.' The female teachers gasped, whilst Dumbledore, Flitwick and even Snape looked horrified. Hermione then fainted and I only just managed to catch her. Professor McGonagall rushed to the nearest portrait and spoke to it.

'Tell Madame Pomffrey to get a bed ready.' She turned to look at me. 'Mr Malfoy, can you carry Miss Granger to the hospital wing?' I nodded and picked up Hermione's light form with ease and began to walk down the stairs with Dumbledore following.

'Minerva, Severus, Filius and Pomana, go to the Head's common room and restrain Mr Krum. Alert the ministry.' They ran out after us, wands at the ready, and up the stairs whilst I carried Hermione to the hospital wing, Dumbledore at my side. Even with him there, it still didn't stop all of the strange glances from the students, especially the Slytherins and Gryffindors. I didn't care. I pulled Hermione closer to me and breathed in her scent of strawberries , which even managed to achieve me a few strange glances off Dumbledore.

'Albus! Mr Malfoy! What is wrong with Miss Granger?!' I led Hermione down on the nearest empty bed and Madame Pomffrey hurried out of her office.

'She's just fainted.' Madame Pomffrey raised an eyebrow at me but Dumbledore motioned to her office and she nodded.

'Take these.' She conjured up a cloth and bowl of cold water, handing them to me. 'Dab her forehead and make sure she doesn't get to cold. I'll be in my office if you need anything.' I nodded as she and Dumbledore went, sitting down on the chair next to the bed, slowly dabbing at Hermione's forehead. I could feel the eyes of other students in the Hospital Wing on me, but I carried on, moving Hermione's soft curls out of the way of her face.

A few minutes later the two professors came out of the office and back over to Hermione's bed. 'Thank you, Mr Malfoy. You may go.'

'I'll stay here until her friends get here.' Madame Pomffrey nodded and Dumbledore sat down next to me.

'You're doing a brilliant job of promoting inter-house unity.' I smiled at him and lightly stroked Hermione's hand. 'An incredibly brilliant job…' I turned to him but before I could ask him what he meant, Potter, the two Weasels, Pavarti, Brown, Lovegood and Longbottom burst in.

I withdraw my hand and her friends crowded around her bedside. 'How is she?' I realised Potter had spoken to me and I almost coughed in shock.

'Fine. She just fainted. She won't be able to sleep in her room tonight though, not after what's happened. Is there any chance she could stay in the Gryffindor dormitories?' Dumbledore nodded and summoned a house elf to go and prepare her bed.

'Could you go and get some of her things, Malfoy?' I looked up at the Weasel and nodded.

'Like what?'

'Pyjamas, change of clothes, school bag, and maybe her favourite book? It'-'

'Hogwarts: A History. I know. She's already read it three times this year.' Surprisingly, the Weasel smiled and I returned it before turning to leave.

'Draco…' I stopped as I heard Hermione's weak voice call my name. 'Where is he?...' I went back the bed and took her hand once more, which only gained a reaction from Brown and Pavarti.

'I'm here, Hermione.' She nodded and closed her eyes once more, falling unconscious again. 'I'll go and get her things. What's the password to Gryffindor Tower?'

'Willow leaves.' I nodded and went back to the Heads common room, collecting Hermione's things. I sighed at mess Krum had made of Hermione's room and cleaned it up with a quick spell. I packed the things Ron had asked me to into a small bag I found in her room and began to leave to common room when I noticed Hogwarts: A History on the loveseat. I picked it up and left for Gryffindor Tower, speaking the password to the incredibly suspicious fat lady.

I entered to find Hermione led awake on the settee, crowded by her friends, minus Lovegood. I coughed, grabbing everyone's attention. 'Oh, thanks, Malfoy.' Brown, Pavarti and the Weaselette took Hermione's things off me, apart from the book and took them up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. Longbottom excused himself rather quickly, leaving an awkward silence between me, Hermione, Potter and the Weasel. 'We'll be in our room if you need anything, Hermione.'

'But-!'

'But nothing, Ron. Just shout.' Hermione nodded and swung her legs to the floor, leaving space for me to sit down with her. I did and we both stared at the fire, neither of us speaking until I realised that Hermione had begun to cry.

'Hermione, don't cry.' I put my arm around her and she cried into my t-shirt once more.

'I'm so sorry, Draco…'

'What for?'

'People would have seen you with me in the corridors on the way down to Dumbledore's office. Your reputation will be ruined.'

'Right now, I think Krum has more to be worried about than I do.' Hermione nodded and wiped away several of her tears. 'My father will make sure he is locked up for the rest of his life.'

'Why would your father ever want to help me?' Hermione went rigid in my arms. 'I'm just a dirty little mudblood.'

'You're not that to me. And what I say he'll do. I'll tell him that unless he gets Krum in prison for life, I won't become a death eater.'

'I can't let you take that risk.'

'Good job you're not me then.' I laughed, but it didn't convince her that it didn't bother me.

'Draco, you can't do that.' She sat up, her eyes glistening with tears again.

'Yes, I can. Besides, I'll have to become a death eater eventually. It's not like I can put it off.' Hermione nodded slowly. 'So, I don't think you're ready to come back to the Head's common room, so do you want me to come here in the evenings to do our Transfiguration project and preparations for the ball?' She nodded.

'Yes, please. I'm not sure how I'm ever going to be able to sleep in there again.'

'Well, why don't you spend two nights here, then you and the Weas- Ginny could sleep in the common room for another two nights, then maybe she could spend a night with you in your room. And if you need anything after that, I'm always nearby.'

'Sounds like a plan.' I took my arm from around Hermione and stood up.

'I should go. Snape wants me to help him clean the Potions room tomorrow.'

'Okay. Good night, Draco.'

'Good night, Hermione.' Then, I did the most unexpected thing, I bent down and kissed Hermione softly on the forehead. I mean, I knew I was falling for her, but I didn't expect myself to do that. I walked out of Gryffindor Tower and down a few sets of stairs until I reached Al's portrait.

'Where's Hermione?'

'Oh, she's spending a couple of nights with the Gryffindor's.' I sighed and he nodded.

'You should really ask her out, you know.'

'How can I? She was nearly raped today, her friends hate me, she only gets on with me because it would be hell otherwise, over Christmas I'm getting engaged to Pansy, Astoria follows me around like a lost dog and my father is on my back all of the time about me becoming a death eater. Asking Hermione out isn't one of my top priorities, Al! Crookinx!'


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Thank you to my reviewers **Roselovestark **and **Shaymars**. **Ashley: **No, I didn't, but I do quite like it. I just found it on the internet all credit to the artist

CHAPTER 7-

I watched as Draco left the Gryffindor common room, my hand flying up to my forehead where he had kissed me. I could still feel his lingering touch from where his lips had touched me. I sighed and leaned back on the settee. Could he possibly like me? No, he just feels sorry for me. I sighed once more and voice spoke from behind me.

'Are you okay, Hermione?' I turned to see Harry approaching me.

'Yeah. I'm just a bit tired. I'm going to go to bed.'

'I'm sorry I didn't notice.' I looked up at Harry.

'It's okay. Draco only knew because he found me crying in my room and went in and found letter from Krum and offered to help.' Harry held up his hand to stop me and sat down where Draco had been.

'I didn't mean about Krum. I meant about Mal- Draco.' I raised my eyebrows at him. 'Oh, come on, Hermione. You'd have to be blind not to notice. You two haven't just called a truce, you really are becoming good friends. When he was taking you down to Dumbledore's office before, you could tell he really cared about you. And in transfiguration, you laugh together, and he smiles at you. Not smirks, smiles. I've never seen him smile until this year when he's been around you.

'I'm sorry I didn't notice that you've fallen for him.' I looked down and realised that Harry was right. Unknowingly, I had fallen for Draco. Why would I care about him kissing my forehead so much? Why was I no longer bothered that I had to live with him and go to the ball with him? Why did I look forward to Transfiguration lessons so much? 'I've been so wrapped up with Ginny that I didn't even know that one of my best friends has fallen in love for the first time.'

'It's okay.' I hugged Harry tightly. 'I didn't even really know myself. But, please don't tell Ron. I think he might have a heart attack if he knew.'

'I won't. But just be careful, Hermione. I heard what he said before. If Draco's father finds out that you like his son…' Harry looked towards the fire. I knew what he meant. Any numerous bad things could happen.

'I'll be careful, Harry.'

'And you might want to give him his Slytherin jumper back.' I looked down and saw that I was still wearing Draco's green jumper.

'But they're so much more comfortable than the Gryffindor ones. Hopefully he won't notice.'

Harry laughed at me. 'Come on. You need to get some sleep.'

'You know, if you don't feel up to carrying me around all day after what happened at the weekend, I'm sure I could convince Professor McGonagall to let you turn me into a fox some other time.'

'Draco, I'll be fine. Are you sure that's not for your benefit though? Afraid I might forget to take you to your room before you change back?'

'Er…no.'

It was Friday morning, and I had managed last night back in my room on my own, so me and Draco were walking down to Transfiguration so I could turn him into a fox. 'Everything's going to be fine, Draco. Besides, whether someone had tried to rape me or not, would you really want Astoria carrying you around all day long?'

'No, but do you really want the whole world to know what happened to you?'

'People will find out eventually. They're already wondering why Krum hasn't played any Quidditch matches in a while. And Rita Skeeter or someone is bound to find out sooner or later.' I sighed and Draco put his arm around me.

'I can talk to my father about that too, if you want.'

'No way! You're already doing enough for me as it is. One of them being getting your reputation ruined.' I jerked out of his hold over my shoulders and walked a few steps in front of him. He sighed and carried on walking at his normal pace.

'I don't want feeding anything like maggots today you realise.'

'You'll have to eat what I give you.' I turned and stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. 'Maybe I'll give you something nice and lunch and dinner. But you'll have to sit with the Gryffindor's…'

'They don't actually seem that bad.' I fell back into pace with him just as we reached the Transfiguration classroom door.

'Don't let anyone hear you say that, Draco.' We pushed open the doors to the classroom and sat at our desk, waiting for a few people to arrive.

'Miss Granger, are you sure you're ready for today?' I looked up at Professor McGonagall and smiled.

'Yes, Professor. I think Draco's more scared than me about it.' She chuckled and nodded, moving to the front of the class as Pansy and Blaise had come in together.

'Class, settle down. Now please can I have the animals on this side of the classroom and the spell casters on the other. Be opposite your partner.' I stood in between Harry and Ron, with Millicent, Draco and Pansy stood opposite us.

'Mr Potter, Miss Parkinson, please step forward and begin when you are ready.' Harry started after a few seconds, casting the correct spell and turning Pansy into a black guinea pig.

'Aww, she's so cute!' I whispered to Ron and he gave me the strangest look ever.

'Well done, Mr Potter. You may leave to your lesson. Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. Your turn.' We both stepped forward and I raised my eyebrows to ask him if he was ready. He nodded back, in a kind of let's-get-it-over-with kind of way.

He held out his right hand and I pointed my wand at it, casting the spell that would temporarily turn him into a fox. A purple mist filled the spot where Draco was standing and when it cleared I looked to the floor to see a fox sitting perfectly still, staring at me with Draco's ice blue eyes. I smiled and picked up Draco, nearly laughing at how light he was. With all of his muscles, he was nothing like he was in person.

'Congratulations, Miss Granger. You may go.' I picked up my bag and left, with Draco sat curled up asleep around my shoulders.

He sat like that for most of the day, trying to distract me in potions by swishing his tail on my cheek, the fine bristles making me laugh and nearly get a detention from Snape. The only time he didn't sit like that was at lunch and dinner, when he sat on the edge of the Gryffindor table, with a bowl of water and a plate of chicken. Harry sat opposite me with Pansy, who was currently eating some kind of rabbit food.

'Why don't you give her something normal to eat?'

'Because we have to put them on the animal's diet. Are you sure Draco didn't just want to be turned into a fox so he wouldn't have to eat something horrible?'

'Actually, I picked a fox.'

'You should have turned him into a ferret…' I pointed my finger at Harry and gave him evils.

'Not nice.'

'It's not my fault you have a crush on him…'

'Shush! Someone might hear! And how do you not know that Draco and Pansy can listen?' Harry shook his head and grinned at me. I quickly changed the subject. 'How's Ron?'

'I think he's having fun. The same can't be said for Millicent.' Harry turned around and saw that Millicent was running up and down the length of the Slytherin table, trying to catch Ron, a ginger rabbit that was eating everything on the table.

'Yeah, he's fine.'

Later that night, I put Draco on the bed in his room ready for the transformation back. 'I hope it doesn't hurt you when you change back, McGonagall said it might. I'll be in my room. Why am I talking to a fox?' I shook my head and closed the door, walking over towards my room. I took off my uniform and dumped it in a basket to be washed over the weekend and changed into leggings and a strappy top, putting the Slytherin jumper on over the top of it, breathing in Draco's scent of his spice and lime cologne.

I sighed and curled up in my bed, falling asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Thanks to my reviewers, **Methid2Madness, aprilthirteen13, VAMPIRESEX **and the person on the **Guest **account.

CHAPTER 8-

_Krum had me pushed up against the wall of my bedroom, dripping poisonous words into my ear. 'He hates you. There's no chance. Really? A Mudblood and a Malfoy? Why did you ever think for a second that something would become of it? You are so filthy, the only things that will want you will be the rats.'_

'_Draco! Draco!'_

'_He can't hear you scream. No one can. Ever.' My shoulders began to shake of their own accord._

'_Draco! Draco! _Draco!' I opened my eyes to see Draco knelt over me, shaking me awake by the shoulders.

'Hermione, what's wrong?!' He stopped shaking me and held me, letting me cry into his bare chest.

'I had a nightmare about Krum.'

'What happened?'

'He told me…' That nothing would ever happen between us? 'That no one would ever hear me scream. Especially not you.'

'Well, it's not true. I heard you screaming my name. Don't listen to him. Have you had a nightmare with him in before?' Draco pulled away from me and handed me a tissue from my bedside table to wipe my eyes. I shook my head. 'Come on.' I looked at him quizzically. 'You're sleeping in my room tonight. This room obviously gives you bad memories.'

'But where will you sleep?'

'In the common room. No objections.' Draco took my wrist and gently tugged me out of my sheets and down my stairs, only to go up his. 'Are you going to be okay?' I nodded as he took a spare blanket out of his wardrobe. 'I'll be downstairs if you need anything.' Draco left, closing the door behind him, leaving me with his owl and the darkness. I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. How could I get to sleep now? The only things I could think about were Krum and Draco. When I thought about Krum, I wanted to be sick. When I thought about Draco, I wanted to throw myself off the Astronomy Tower because nothing would ever happen.

I gave it a few more minutes then wrapped one of Draco's black sheets from his bed around me and went down into the common room. 'I can't sleep, Draco.' He sat up on the love seat and motioned with his head for me to come and sit with him.

'Neither can I.' I sat next to him and he put his arm around my shoulders. I tried to move away but he pulled me back. 'No one's going to know that we're being nice to each other when no one else is around.' I sighed in agreement and put my head on his shoulder. Unexpectedly, Draco turned his head and kissed my forehead, making my heart do somersaults.

'What was that for?'

'I'm… I'm not sure. My mother does it to me when I'm upset. Especially when my sister died…' I shot up in the loveseat and stared at him.

'You had a sister?' He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

'Yes. She was called Astrid. She was a two years older than me. When I was five, my father killed her.'

'What happened?' Draco sighed once more and told me how angry his father had gotten when his first born wasn't male and how he had beaten his wife until she had become pregnant with Draco. Then he started beating Astrid instead. For as long as Draco could remember, Astrid was called out of the play room in the Manor for a weekly torture session by her father. Eventually, Lucius killed her. But not with a wand. With a knife. 'That's… horrible. Have you reported him to the ministry?'

'No. He'd kill me and my mother if we did. And even if we did manage to, he's a death eater. Voldemort would have killed anyone who went after one of his most loyal followers. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything.'

'No, it's fine. Really. Is your mother a death eater then?'

'Yes, but against her will. She only is one so she won't…' A tear rolled down Draco's cheek, but he quickly wiped it away. 'My mother is one of the only things I've got left. Her, Blaise and Pansy. They're like a brother and a sister to me. I don't want to get engaged to her. I love her and everything, but I'm not in love with her. And then there's Astoria. Don't even get me started on Astoria.' I laughed slightly and lent back on his shoulder.

The next morning, I woke up in Draco's bed to the sound of running water in the shower. I rubbed my eyes and went back over to my room, taking a shower myself and getting changed after I noticed Draco's clearly slept in blanket on the loveseat. I came back down the stairs in jeans and a hoodie to find Draco folding up the blanket.

'Morning.'

'Hi, Hermione. Ginny stopped by about ten minutes ago to ask if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade to do something today? I think it was shopping… I can't remember. She said she'd be in the Great Hall.'

'Okay, thanks.' I left the common room and ran down to the Great Hall to meet Ginny after a brief conversation with Al about how I was feeling.

'Hermione! How are you?' Ginny engulfed me in hug as soon as I entered and she dragged me to our normal spot opposite the Slytherin table, facing Harry and Ron.

'I'm fine. I had a nightmare last night, but Draco was there to help.' Harry smirked. Ginny smiled. Ron carried on eating. 'Honestly, Ronald, do you ever stop eating?' Ron looked up at me after swallowing his current mouthful of food and was about to reply, but Lavender shouted him from the doors and he left straight away.

I shook my head and grabbed a piece of toast when Ginny began speaking. 'Did Mal- Draco tell you I wanted to go shopping for Winter ball dresses today?'

'He said something about wanting to go shopping in Hogsmeade, but he couldn't remember. But I'll go with you to get one if you want.'

'Yay! You need to get one too, so go and get your money from your room. Are you coming with us, Harry?'

'You must be kidding, Ginny. I'm going into Hogsmeade with Neville, Seamus and Dean to look at the Quidditch supplies shop.'

'But Neville hates Quidditch.'

'We're also going to Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks. Besides, I don't want to see your dress until you come down the stairs by the Great Hall at the Winter Ball. I'll see you later.' Harry leaned across the table and kissed Ginny on the cheek and he left with the three boys.

'Come on, let's go and get my money.'

We arrived at Hogsmeade within half an hour, as Ginny was insistent on doing my makeup. Why would you need to wear makeup just to walk down the road? People kept on staring at us as we walked down, and all I could think about was Krum.

'Ginny, do you think everyone knows about Krum? They're all staring at me.'

She laughed. 'They're all staring at you because you look even more gorgeous than usual. Have you never seen people stare at you? Since the start of this year, everyone's been doing it, including a few of the girls. I've even seen the Head boy stare at you quite a fair bit at mealtimes.' I stopped walking at what Ginny had just said.

'Really? Draco's been staring at me?' My heart began to do somersaults again and I could feel butterflies in my stomach.

'Yes. Have you not seen…' Ginny looked at the grin on my face then squealed and hugged me. 'That is so cute!'

'What is?' Ginny hooked her arm in mine and made me skip with her down to the dress shop. 'Tell me!'

'You and Draco of course!'

'Keep your voice down, Ginny!' She squealed again as we stepped into the shop to be greeted with everyone colour under the sun.

'How long have you liked him?'

'Oh, I'm not sure. Maybe about a month? You can't tell Ron though: he'll go ballistic if he knew I liked You-Know-Who.'

'Wow. I didn't know you had a crush on Voldemort, Hermione.' She stuck her tongue out at me and began to look through the first rack of dresses. 'We need a code name for him… what about Dragon?'

'No, that's far too obvious. It sounds like his name.'

'Okay, well what about… David. It's a fairly normal name, so if "_David_" overheard, he would think we were talking about a muggle that you have a crush on.'

'Ginny, I want him to like me back, not think I'm interested in someone else.'

'Do you want everyone to find out though?' I shook my head and Ginny pulled a few dresses from the rack. 'David it is then. Let's go to the fitting rooms.'

At 12 o'clock, we were still in the dress shop, and Ginny and had only just found her dress, but she did look stunning in it.

I, however, had not found a dress that I liked. I had tried on loads, but no one of them seemed to look right on me. 'Why don't you just get the same style of dress you wore for the Yule Ball but in a different colour? You looked pretty in that.' I shook my head, telling her I wanted something different because _David _had already seen me like that.

Just when I thought all hope was lost, at the back of the shop was a white and blue dress. It was full length and it had swirly patterns of silver on it. 'What about this one, Ginny?'

'You'll match the decorations if you wear that.'

'Exactly. I'm head girl. That's a good thing.'

'Well try it on then.' I tried it on and it fit perfectly, going in at the waist and flowing down to my feet. 'I take it back. Looking like the decorations may be a good idea after all.' I smiled and got changed, both of us taking our dresses to the till at the front.

'Do you think _David_ will like it?'

'If he doesn't, you have to give me permission to swamp his bedroom.' We both laughed and paid, the woman at the till saying she'd have our dresses sent up to Hogwarts. We left smiling and Draco was walking with Blaise past the shop. He nodded to me and I smiled slightly back at him. Me and Ginny began walking towards the Three Broomsticks and when we got to the door, Ginny turned around.

'He's looking at you.' I turned and saw Draco stood next to Blaise, who was looking in the window of the Quidditch supplies shop. Draco had his head turned to me and kept on staring until Blaise elbowed him and they both entered the shop. 'That was so cute!' Ginny squealed again and we entered the pub, ordering lunch. I shook my head and we sat down at a table, two glasses of pumpkin juice appearing in front of us.

'How was that cute? We were just looking at each other…'

'But it was across a crowded street! A Slytherin and a Gryffindor. A pureblood and muggle-born. A death eater's son and a member of the Golden Trio.'

'Yeah, don't say that out loud again. It is actually possible to work out who we're talking about.'

'Hermione, everyone in Slytherin is pureblood and has death eaters for parents. Don't worry.' I shook my head again and we finished our lunch, leaving to go and find shoes to go with our dresses and then back up to the castle.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Thank you to my reviewers **shaymars **and **VAMPIRESEX**.

CHAPTER 9-

'I saw you coming out of the dress shop earlier.' It was late at night, and I was sat in the common room completing a charms essay when Hermione walked in from visiting her friends.

'Yes. What about it?'

'What colour is your dress?'

'Why?' She sat down in her arm chair and twisted around to look at me in the loveseat.

'So I can buy a tie to match it.'

'Why will you buying a tie? That's what muggles wear. Aren't you going to wear dress robes to the ball?'

'I fancied a change, and they have a muggle clothing shop in Hogsmeade. So, what colour is your dress?'

'Blue and white, like the decorations.' Hermione yawned and walked towards her stairs, but not before quickly scanning my essay. 'That bit's wrong.' She pointed to a sentence towards the end of the parchment and walked over to the bookcase, bringing back a book on Charms. 'Page 156. Goodnight.'

'Yeah, goodnight.' She walked up her stairs and into her bedroom, closing the door softly behind her.

Merlin, I hate her.

_Shouldn't that be "Merlin, I love her"?_

Shut. Up.

The next day was Sunday, and I was sat with Blaise having breakfast at the Slytherin table. Hermione walked in with Ginny, Brown, Patil and they sat down with Potter, Weasely, Longbottom, Thomas and Finnegan. Hermione sat facing the Slytherin table, and I could see that her eyes were smiling again. I inwardly smiled myself, then Blaise nudged me.

'If I were your father, I'd be furious by now.' I turned to look at him.

'I'm sorry?'

'Draco, almost every single mealtime, you've been staring at Hermione Granger. You do it in Potions and Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. You did it yesterday when we were in Hogsmeade. It's one thing liking someone else when you're about to get engaged, but a Gryffindor? And a mud-'

'Don't. Don't call her that, Blaise.'

'And a muggleborn. If your father was here, you would be in St. Mungo's either because you had gone insane or because he had performed a rather nasty curse on you.' I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed.

'It's not like I can help it. Besides, it'll all be over at Christmas. That's when the engagement gets announced. Anyway, who are you taking to the ball?'

'Well, since you have to go with Gra- Hermione, I'm taking Pansy.'

'Really? I thought you'd be going with Astoria.'

'Seriously? She's more annoying than Pansy used to be in our first few years. And after much persuasion, she's going with Theo.'

'Who did the persuasion?'

'Theo, surprisingly. Astoria was in tears every night for a week when she found out you had to go with Hermione. Then she vowed she was going to watch you all night long before Theo managed to persuade her to go with him. Wait until your family's Christmas party. I think she might commit suicide then.' We both laughed and finished our breakfast. 'Come on. Quidditch practice.'

A few days later, the whole of the seventh year was made to meet in the Great Hall an hour and a half after dinner had ended.

'I bet you're all wondering why we have you gathered here.' McGonagall was stood at the front of the Great Hall with Professor Snape at her side. _Your Professor is very clever. Is she using Legilimency__?_ Please be quiet. 'We are here to teach you how to dance in preparation for the Winter Ball.' Me and all of the boys groaned and a few of the girls squealed in excitement. McGonagall waved her wand and the tables and benches were moved to the sides of the room. 'Now, you all learnt how to dance for the Yule Ball, but the opening dance is very different.

'Obviously instead of our four champions and their partners opening the Ball, it will be the head boy and girl.' A few of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw lads snickered but they soon quietened down. 'Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, please come up to the front.' We did as she said, me next to Snape; Hermione next to McGonagall. 'Everyone, especially you two, watch carefully. Me and Professor Snape will take you slowly through the dance, then once again, but at the normal speed and with the music. Professor?'

Snape nodded and took McGonagall's hand, leading her out into the middle of the hall as everyone moved backwards. They took us through the dance, then again but faster. Fortunately for me, it included a lift like the one from the Yule Ball dance, which involved me putting my hands on her waist, her hands on my shoulders and lifting her up in the air about every thirty seconds. _And who was Hermione's partner to the Yule Ball? _Krum… Why would she want to do an identical lift to the one she did with Krum?

I glanced sideways at Hermione to see her chewing at the sleeve on her jacket. Side stepping towards her, I asked her if she was okay. 'Yeah, I'm fine.' She stop biting and rolled up her sleeves so she couldn't do it anymore.

'The lift reminds you of Krum, right?' She nodded. 'I'm not him, you know.'

'I know, Draco.'

'For a start, I don't call you Her-my-own-ninny.' She laughed quietly and looked down at her flowery pumps. The music stopped and McGonagall looked towards us.

'Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, you will dance with us now.' We walked out onto the floor and stood opposite each other, looking awkwardly around the hall. 'Mr Malfoy, right hand on Miss Granger's waist, Miss Granger, left hand on Mr Malfoy's shoulder. Join your free hands.' We did as she asked, Hermione quickly tensing and then relaxing as I touched her. Someone wolf whistled in the crowd and I looked in the direction of the sound. I saw Blaise stood at the front, grinning wildly. I shot him evils and turned back to Hermione as McGonagall approached us, speaking at a volume only we could hear.

'I know this dance may remind you of Krum, Hermione, but I would like you to try. If you really can't do it, we shall find an alternative dance. Draco, be careful with her.' I nodded and she joined hands with Snape once more. The music began playing and we began dancing; Hermione trying to keep a neutral look.

'What's wrong?' She opened her mouth to speak but I grabbed her waist and she took my shoulders, lifting her up high. Even though I was strong, I wasn't holding her tightly because she was as light as a feather, but she gasped when she reached the highest point. I squeezed her waist slightly to reassure her and brought her down and carried on dancing. 'What is it? Did I hurt you?'

'No. It just reminded me of… him.' I nodded.

'I know it'll probably take a while, but soon you'll feel alright again.' I lifted her up again, and she tensed but relaxed after a second. 'Do you think you'll need to sleep in my room again tonight?'

'Maybe, I don't know. Nothing about the memories of that night bothers me anymore. It's just him.' I nodded and lifted her again and I had noticed about ten other couples had begun dancing. I looked out to audience of nervous 7th years to see Brown trying to convince Weasley to start dancing, but he was watching me very carefully through narrowed eyes.

'Look over at Wea- Ron.' Hermione turned her head slightly as I lifted her once more and she smiled.

'He looks ready to murder you, Draco.'

'Can I wind him up please?'

'Why are you asking me permission? You've done it for six years without having to ask anyone consent to it.'

'I'm… not sure why. But can I?'

'Now?'

'After the next lift, I'll pretend to whisper something in your ear, laugh, then lean on my chest and close your eyes whilst still dancing.' Hermione raised her eyebrows but nodded. Why on earth did she agree to do that? It's more for my benefit than Ron's.

I lifted Hermione once more and leaned in to her, whispering the password of our common room. She giggled, her eyes sparkling and she moved closer to me so she could lean against my chest with her eyes closed. I rested my chin on top of her head and glanced sideways at Ron, who was now advancing towards us with Lavender behind him.

'I think he could murder both of us.'

'Hmm?' Hermione opened her eyes but didn't take her head off my chest. She giggled at Ron's bright red face, and closed her eyes again, relaxing completely against me. Could she…? _No, she does not like you. _But I didn't ask her to carry on pretending for me. Just as Ron was about 2 metres away from us, the music stopped and the people who were still left around the sides clapped. I glanced at Ron and he was having a heated conversation with Lavender.

Even though we had stopped dancing, I was still holding Hermione, and she still had her head on my chest. 'Hermione. We've stopped dancing.' She opened her eyes and looked up at me.

Our faces were about a centimetre apart and we were both looking into each other's eyes. 'Draco…' Hermione bit her lip and just as I was about to kiss her, Ron came over.

'Hey, Hermione. Can I talk to you?' Hermione let go of my shoulder and my hand and stepped away from me.

'Sure. What is it?'

'I mean back in Gryffindor Tower.'

'Okay. I'll see you later, Draco.'

'Bye, Hermione.' I turned around to see that most people had left the hall, and I couldn't see Blaise anywhere. I sighed and left the hall, but instead of going up the stairs to the Head's common room, I went down them and into the dungeons instead.

'Hey, Theo. Have you seen Blaise?' I had looked around the common room and couldn't see Blaise anywhere, so I had to resort to asking Theo, even though he had Astoria asleep on him.

'He's in our room.'

'Thanks.' I went up the boys stairs and found my old room which I had shared with Theo, Blaise, Goyle and Crabbe before I had become Head Boy. I entered to find Blaise sat on his bed talking to Pansy who was sat on my old bed. They both turned as I entered.

'Draco! What happened? I saw you and Hermione at the end of the dan-'

'Blaise!' I pointed at Pansy and his mouth formed an 'o' shape.

'I'm not bothered. I don't want to marry you. Does your father know about her?' I shook my head and sat down next to her.

'If my father knew, I doubt I would still be alive.' Pansy nodded.

'Why don't you just tell your father that you're in love with someone?'

'Because, Malfoy's don't marry for love. They marry for money and heritage. And if I told him that, he would want to know who with, and I can't tell him that. Besides, I don't even know if Hermione likes me back, so there would be no point in saying anything at all.' I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. 'Couldn't you speak to your parents, Pansy?'

'Already tried and failed. Sorry.'

'It'll be okay, you two. December's only just started.' We both nodded. 'So, what happened with Hermione in the Great Hall?'

'Yeah!' Blaise and Pansy both turned to me.

'Well, Weasley was watching me, because he's so protective over Hermione. I told Hermione and we decided to wind him up. I pretended to whisper something in her ear and she giggled, then she lent her head on my chest and closed her eyes…' I smiled thinking of Hermione's soft curls leaning into me. 'She looked like she didn't mind being close to me, but then Weasley came over with Brown to have a go at me, but then the music stopped, so he couldn't. Hermione looked up at me and I was about to kiss her but the stupid Weasel came and interrupted us and I left.'

'I don't get it though. Why don't you just kiss her? Or tell her how you feel? You're the sex god of Slytherin, why haven't you done anything yet?'

'Because, Hermione isn't just some stupid slut who's slept with every guy in the school. She's special. You can't just go up to her randomly and kiss her. It has to be perfect. I remember reading a muggle book in the library once the other year, and these people kissed outside in the snow… it was perfect. Hermione will have read about things like that, and that's what she'll probably be expecting from someone.'

'Aww… Draco's gone all romantic on one of his arch enemies. I'm so proud of you.' I looked strangely at Pansy who had leaned over and hugged me. I patted her back and gave Blaise a worried glance who grinned.

'Sit back down, Pansy.' Blaise tugged at her arm and she pulled away from me with her eyes shining.

'What am I going to do you two?'

'Draco, if it's meant to be, it'll a find a way.' Pansy reached across the bed and squeezed my hand.

'Please stop touching me, woman.'


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Thank you to my reviewers, **shaymars, VAMPIRESEX **and **naturallyshay**!

CHAPTER 10-

'Do I look okay, Hermione?'

'Yes, Ginny! Now can you do my make up?'

'Sure, sit down.' Ginny gave herself one last look over in the mirror, before putting a dressing gown over my dress so she could do my makeup. After about half an hour, she had finished messing around with my face.

'What have you done to my temples? You were messing with them for ages.'

'Look in the mirror and you'll see.' I took the dressing gown off and walked to the mirror and gasped. Ginny had made my foundation as pale as possible to go with my normal skin tone and my eye shadow was a light blue. By some miracle, Ginny had used glittery silver eyeliner along the bottom of my eyelids and done some strange swirly pattern on my temples.

'Ginny, I… don't know what to say.'

'Thank you, perhaps?'

'Thank you so much!' I was about to hug Ginny but she held up her hands.

'No hugging until tomorrow. You might smudge something. Now, your hair…' She stood next to me, looking into the full length mirror. 'I was thinking doing it the same way you had for the Yule Ball as that style would go with this dress beautifully, but Kru-'

'I don't care about him anymore. Do it, please.' Ginny waved her wand a few times, and my hair fell into place, with a few curls framing my face.

'At least we didn't have to curl it this time…'

'Shut up!' Ginny giggled.

'Come on. The head girl needs to make an appearance soon.' We linked arms and went down the stairs into the common room to find it deserted. 'I don't get why no one's allowed to see the Head Girl's dress until the ball.'

'It's just a tradition. Be glad that you're the exception to the rule.' We left the common room and walked down the stairs and empty corridors until we came to the stairs that led down to the Great Hall doors. Before we could down them to meet Draco and Harry, Professor McGonagall stooped us.

'Not you, Miss Granger. The hall doors haven't closed yet and no one is allowed to see you. Miss Weasley may go.' Ginny peeked around the corner and had a look at both boys.

'If you don't mind me saying, Draco looks fit, Hermione. Not look like he doesn't usually, but even more so tonight.' I blushed and looked down. 'He's wearing a very nice muggle suit thingy with a blue tie thingy and blue rose attached to the lapel that goes with your dress. If that's the sort of boy who just takes a girl to a Ball to a dance because he has to, he's not doing a very good impression of it. Oh, your lips!' Ginny quickly waved her wand in front of my face, applying lip gloss. 'I'll see you in there.' She winked and walked down the stairs. I heard Harry telling her how beautiful she looked and another quick sound as they kissed. I sighed. I'd never even been kissed before, unless we're counting the horrible and meaningless ones from Krum, and now I wanted the sex god of Slytherin to go out with me. I shook my head as the hall doors closed.

'If you want him so badly, why don't you just ask him?' My head snapped up to look at Professor McGonagall. 'Transfiguration class. When he's not looking, you stare at him. When you're not looking, he stares at you. I know he's getting engaged, and he's in Slytherin, and he'll become a Death Eater soon, and the war's coming, but I've heard some of the students say You Only Live Once. I think it comes in the form of the word "YOLO", but I do believe it holds the same meaning.' I smiled at the Professor. 'Come on. I'll go first. Don't wait too long to show yourself to the poor boy: he's been stood down there pacing for half an hour. I think he may actually break through the floor soon.'

McGonagall smiled at me and went down the steps. 'Where's Hermione?'

'She's coming now, Mr Malfoy.' I took a deep breath, turned the corner and walked down the stairs, looking at Draco the whole time. Ginny was right, he did look good, especially with that rose on his lapel. He had his mouth open the whole time I walked down the steps and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out his sockets. Dumbledore elbowed him slightly and he closed his mouth. I stood in front of Draco and his beautiful silver eyes looked back into my brown ones.

'Mr Malfoy, don't you have something to give Miss Granger?' Draco broke out of his trance and nodded, taking a blue rose out of his pocket like the one he was wearing. He stepped closer to me and slid it into my hair, his breath tickling my forehead. 'Please get ready to enter the Hall for the dance, you two.'

Draco stepped away from me and took my hand, leading me to just behind Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. He put out his arm and I put my arm on top of it, his other arm going behind his back. He leaned towards me and spoke quietly, so the Professors wouldn't hear. 'You look beautiful.' I smiled and blushed, turning away from him.

'Are you ready?' McGonagall turned to us and we both nodded. I nervously smiled at Draco and he returned it. Dumbledore cleared his throat and the doors to the Great Hall opened.

We followed the two professors down the middle aisle past tables filled with students. Everyone clapped as we entered. I felt everyone's eyes on me and I swore I was going to be sick. We carried on walking until we got to the middle of Hall, in the great expanse of space that had been reserved for dancing. Dumbledore and McGonagall stood at the front and nodded to us and we held each other like we had in practice and we nodded back to them. The music started playing and we began dancing.

After the first lift, Dumbledore and McGonagall joined us as well as a few other Professors and some of the prefects. I saw Ginny and Harry dancing, and surprisingly, Ron and Lavender.

'He's staring at me again, Hermione…' I looked in Ron's direction to find that he was staring at Draco again with the same murderous look on his face. Lavender was dancing and talking at the same time and Ron just kept on nodding, all the while looking at Draco.

'If this carries on, I think Lavender may start to think he's gay.' Draco smiled and lifted me again.

'Do we have to stay to the end of the dance?'

'Yes.' Draco sighed. 'Hey, don't worry about it. We get pictures taken by the Daily Prophet after that. And Rita Skeeter's probably here.' We both sighed.

'And my father will be over the moon when it gets delivered to the manor tomorrow morning.'

The dance ended and we were taken to a corner in the Hall were the photographers and reporters were.

'Can I just ask you a few questions while they take photographs?' We both nodded to Rita's scheming face as we posed for pictures in front of one of the smaller Christmas trees.

'Hermione, are you still with Viktor Krum?' I bit my lip and immediately wanted to punch her.

'No, we broke it off quite a while back, we still write to each other though. I haven't heard from him in a while, and I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong.'

'Ah, I see. We at the Daily Prophet were wondering if you knew anything.' I shook my head and gave her a fake smile, internally breathing a sighing of relief. 'And, Draco, are there any last minute invitations going for your family's Christmas party?'

'I think my father is just sending out the last one's tonight. You may want to go and check owl mail.' Rita grinned and said something quietly to her photographer.

'We're just about done here, so Michael's going to take a few more photos, and then we'll be gone. We just really need a front page shot. Draco, put your arm around Hermione's shoulders and Hermione put your arm around Draco's waist.' We looked at each other and from his eyes I could tell he wanted us to act like we didn't want to.

'Do I really have to?'

'Yes!' We both sighed and did as she said. 'Smile, for Merlin's sake! This is going on the front page of the Daily Prophet.' We smiled- well it was more like stretching our lips- and had several photos taken in the same pose before Rita said she was done. 'Go and dance with your friends.' We both huffed off in different directions, and I couldn't tell whether or not he was acting. I quickly found Ginny and Harry by the refreshments bar and went over.

'What did _David _say when he saw you?' Ginny handed me a glass of pumpkin juice and I took a sip from it before replying.

'Nothing at first. I actually stunned him into silence. Never thought that day would come… but then he told me I looked beautiful.' We laughed and Harry rolled his eyes.

'He must like you then.'

'Harry, just because he stared at me doesn't mean he likes me. Guys look at girls all of the time to see how pretty they are.' I thought back to what McGonagall said earlier. 'And even if he does like me, nothing would ever happen. He has so much pressure on him at the moment.'

'Don't you think you should at least tell him? I think he deserves to know.' I raised my eyebrows at Harry's concerned face.

'Really? After everything he's done to us? Six years of torment. Calling me a filthy little mudblood, calling Ron and Ginny poor and blood traitors. He called you the Boy-Who-Won't-Die. Do you really think he deserves it?'

'Hermione, I told you the other night in the common room. You've changed him. Up until tonight I hadn't spoken to him this year, but when I was waiting for Ginny, we had a conversation about Quidditch. Not a snide remark match, we had a conversation with no insults in it. And he even said Ginny was quite pretty! Tell him, woman!' Harry grabbed my arms and shook my slightly and a few of the other students stared at us.

'I'll erm… consider it. Come on.'

'Hmm?' Harry let go of my arms and I took his hand.

'I did say I was going to dance with you and Ron tonight…'

Two and half hours later, I was pretty sure I had danced with every 6th and 7th year in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and even a few in Ravenclaw. I went outside into the Entrance Courtyard, breathing in the cool winter air. It began to snow and I held out my hand to catch some of the snowflakes.

'Are you not cold?' I looked up to see Draco walking towards me.

'No, it's so hot in there. Where have you been?'

'Just for a quick walk. Needed to clear my head, you know? It's the twenty third of December. We leave Hogwarts for the holidays tomorrow, and on Christmas day, it's my family's party and my engagement announcement. And my father wrote to me the other day to tell me that I'm getting my Dark Mark a few days after New Year. I don't want it.'

'It'll be okay, Draco. The war will have come and gone soon. It'll be alright then.'

'Yeah, if you're on the light side, bound to win, not destined to be in Azkaban until the day you die.' Draco looked coldly at me and I looked at the floor, watching the snow hit the cobbles of the courtyard. After a few awkward minutes, the music in the hall changed from one of the Weird Sister tracks to a slow moving song which I instantly recognised with a gasp. 'You know the song?'

'Yes, it's my favourite song, from my favourite film.' Draco raised an eyebrow at me as to ask what it was. 'Beauty and the Beast from err… Beauty and the Beast.' I laughed quietly at Draco held out his hand to me.

'In that case then, may I have this dance, Miss Granger?'

'You certainly may, Mr Malfoy.' I giggled and took his hand and we began dancing slowly to the music.

'That night we had the first dance practice what did Ron want to talk to you about?'

I sighed. 'He was going on about how I should only talk to you if I really had to, like on our rounds and at Prefect meetings. He's trying to act like my dad, and my real dad isn't even that protective over me.' I paused. 'Harry said you had a conversation with him before.'

'Yeah, about Quidditch. I suppose he's not that bad once you get to know him. Don't tell anyone this, but I kind of wish now that I had made friends with you lot in that first year.' I raised an eyebrow at him. 'I don't have many real friends. It's just Blaise, Pansy and Theo. My father even paid Crabbe and Goyle to be friends with me.' He sighed. 'I wish I hadn't asked the sorting hat to put me in Slytherin.'

'You asked it? How could you have? I watched you at the ceremony. The hat barely even touched your head.'

'As I walked up to it I began mouthing the word Slytherin at it, to make my father proud. I didn't think it saw me at first, and it just placed me in Slytherin because I belonged there, but two years ago I got called into Dumbledore's office and I had a conversation with the hat. It told me I should have either been in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, and would have decided fully had it a chance to explore my personality more.'

'Oh…' I looked up at Draco and he smiled. I saw that my hands were now around Draco's neck and I could feel his hands around my waist. I didn't tell him to stop.

'What's Beauty and the Beast about then?'

'It's about this girl who's a bookworm and her father's an inventor. Belle, this girl, doesn't really fit in her town, but the most popular guy in the town wants to marry her, just because she's beautiful…' I told Draco the story, and when I finished, he smiled.

'That's kind of like my life. I feel like an unloved beast sometimes.'

'That's not true…' I realised what I had said and quickly said something else. 'If that's like your life, is there someone you like then? Hopefully not Astoria.'

Draco quietly laughed. 'No, not Astoria.' The music in the Great Hall finished and we stopped moving, but our hands remained where they were. 'Isn't it obvious, Hermione?' Draco leaned forward, taking one hand from my waist and cupping my cheek, my breath catching in my throat. I moved my hands to his shoulders and chest to push him away but he held on to me.

'We can't, Draco…'

'I know you're on the light side, I'm on the dark. You're in Gryffindor, I'm in Slytherin. You're a muggle born, I'm a pureblood. I'm getting engaged and Ron won't even let me speak to you. Please, Hermione. I've wanted to kiss you for so long now, it physically hurts.' I wanted the exact same thing. 'Can I kiss you?' I nodded and Draco closed the distant between us.

He kissed me softly, something I didn't think he was capable of doing for being so strong. I pulled on his neck to bring us closer together, since I was a lot shorter than him. A few minutes later, but I could be wrong, he pulled away from me and ran a thumb over my cheek.

'I shouldn't have done that… I'm sorry, Hermione.' Draco turned away from me and began to walk back inside.

'Wait, Draco.' He turned and walked back a little to me. 'Don't be sorry.' Draco walked towards me, took my hand and quickly kissed me.

'Good night, Hermione. I'll see you in January.' He gave my hand a squeeze before going back into the building. I walked slowly towards the door. Everything seemed blurred and out of place, like time had slowed down. My head was spinning and I only just managed to make it to the steps by the Great Hall before I collapsed against a wall. I looked in the open doors ahead of me to see them pushing the last few students out so they could begin to clean up. When they had left, I sat down on the steps and wept, like I had done three years previous.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Thanks to my reviewers, **shaymars** and **nineandthreequarters23**!

CHAPTER 11-

When I eventually got back to the common room, Draco wasn't there. I hadn't been in there since that afternoon as I had got had got ready for the ball in Gryffindor Tower, and was surprised when I saw a small trunk at the front of the room holding the clothes Draco would need over the Christmas break, waiting to be collected by the house elves in the morning. I checked in his room and balcony to see if he was there, but the only sign he had been in there recently was the blue tie on his bed.

I went across to my room and got changed into my pyjamas and packed a bag ready for going home tomorrow. I spied Draco's jumper on the back of the chair and I broke down into tears again. I waved my wand a folded it up, putting it into my bag. I knew I was going to miss him, so I took it with me. I sent my luggage down into the common room and climbed into bed, wishing for Draco's father to grant the impossible: call off the engagement.

* * *

'Hermione, what's wrong?' The following morning, we were sat on the Hogwarts Express making our way back to Platform 9 3/4. My eyes were read and puffy and I was staring aimlessly out of the window, not particularly looking at anything.

'Nothing. I'm fine, Ron.'

'Hey, Ron, can you go and get us some chocolate frogs?' In the reflection of the window, I saw Harry hand Ron a handful of sickles and he got up and left the compartment, sliding the door closed behind him. 'What is it, Hermione?' I turned from the landscape to look at Harry and Ginny. 'Did something happen at the ball last night? Is it Draco?'

At the mention of his name, I began crying again. 'Hermione?!' Ginny leapt across from the other seat and put her arm around me, whilst Harry knelt down in front of me. 'What happened?' I told them what happened last night everything from the chat to the jumper. 'He shouldn't have kissed you.'

'But I wanted him to, Ginny.'

'Right, where is he?' Harry stood up and opened the compartment door, looking both ways.

'Harry…?'

'I'm going to kill him!' Harry took his wand out of his pocket and began to walk down the corridor.

'Harry, no!' I ran out of the compartment with tears still streaming down my face and grabbed Harry's arm, other students staring at us. 'Don't, please. You don't want to start the war earlier than necessary.' Theodore Knott walked past us and sniggered. Harry tried to jerk out of my grip but I pulled him back. 'Please, Harry…' He put his wand back in his pocket and went back to the compartment and we all sat in an awkward silence until Ron came back.

'They were out of chocolate frogs, so I got sugar quills instead…' Ron looked at all of us to see us all angry, upset and confused. 'What's happened?' We all stared at different things around us, none of us speaking. Ron eventually put the quills down on the seat, muttered something about Lavender and left. We carried on like that until we arrived at the station, occasionally sucking on one of the quills.

'I'll send you your presents with the owls, guys.' Harry and Ginny nodded and I hugged them both, a warm, understanding hug of Ginny; a cold and ridged one off Harry. 'I'll see you in the New Year.' They nodded and I took my bag and Crookshanks and went back to Kings Cross Station to wait for my parents.

* * *

'When Theo said Hermione was crying, she was crying over you, wasn't she?'

It was Christmas day, and I was at outside by the fountain at the Manor in the dark. My father had came over when I was inside at the party to tell me he would announce the engagement in a few moments, so I went outside, to enjoy my last few moments as a free man by myself, thinking about Hermione. My father must have told the same to Pansy, because she ended up standing next to me.

'I don't know. Maybe.'

'What happened? You looked so happy together at the start of the ball when you came in through the doors.' I told Pansy everything, up until the point at which I spent the night back in my old bed in the Slytherin dungeons. 'I have an idea, Draco.' I looked at Pansy and raised an eyebrow. 'I can't believe neither of us thought of this before!'

'What is it, Pansy?!' I shook her shoulders, making the blue dress she was wearing shiver in the dim garden lights.

'If we're not here, the engagement can't be considered as binding. It'll just make your father look like a fool. Get your broom. I'll go and find Blaise.'

'Why do we need Blaise?'

'Because… you really don't know?' I shook my head. 'We're going out. No one knows because of the engagement, but we're going out. Why do you think I was in his room that night after the dance practice? How did no one ever work it out? You and Hermione were easy to guess, and yet you probably tried harder than us to keep it a secret… anyway, I'll get Blaise to get his broom and take me somewhere. Get your broom and go to Hermione's house and tell how you feel.' Pansy took both of my hands and stepped towards me. 'I can tell Hermione likes you. And the longer you leave it, the longer it will be before she's okay again. You know where she lives, right?'

'Yeah, I saw it on an envelope once. Thank you, Pansy.' I kissed her on the cheek and let go of her hands.

'What for?'

'For just making me realise what I want. Accio broom!' My broom zoomed into my hand and I quickly mounted it, flying in the direction of Hermione's house, hoping I wasn't too late.

* * *

I sighed and led back on my bed, kicking off the heels I had worn. Me and my parents had just got back from a neighbours Christmas party, but they were too drunk to notice that I stood lent against a wall all night, not dancing or speaking. When we had finally got home in a taxi, I had to drag them up the stairs to their bedroom so they wouldn't mess up the house.

Getting up again, I opened my window wide to let in the cool winter air and drew the curtains, taking Draco's jumper and putting it over my black lace dress. I breathed in the scent of Draco, feeling tears well up in my eyes again. He's probably already engaged now. And even if he wasn't, that kiss at the ball two nights ago probably would have been a dare from one of his friends. I got up to go to the bathroom to get the makeup wipes, but there was a knocking sound at my window.

It'll probably be an owl with a Christmas present. I threw back the curtains, to see Draco hovering outside my window, in green and black dress robes, on his broom. I stepped backwards with my mouth open, and he flew closer to the window.

'How did you find me?'

'When I found the letters from Krum, I saw your address on some of them.' I nodded slowly, taking in everything. 'Can I come in?' I stepped forwards and opened the window fully, stepping aside to let him fly in. He slowly flew in and dismounted his broom, landing softly on my bedroom carpet. He propped his broom up against the window and looked at me. 'What were you crying about on the train?'

'Isn't it obvious?' I turned away from him and sat on my bed.

'Yes, but I didn't want to think you were crying over me. Or crying at all, actually.' Draco walked towards my bed, but didn't sit down. 'I left the party. Before the announcement. So did Pansy.'

'What?' I turned to look at him.

'Pansy worked out that if we weren't actually present for the announcement, that it wouldn't be legal or binding. So she left with Blaise, who she's dating by the way, and I came here.' I blinked several times and he sighed, running a hand through his slicked back hair, messing it up so it looked like it had done this year at school. 'Look, I know you probably think that I kissed you for a dare, but Hermione, you have to believe me that I didn't. I know I probably shouldn't have kissed you because I didn't even know if you liked me back, but I just had to let you know somehow because of the enga-'

Unexpectedly, I stood up and kissed Draco softly. 'I was hoping I was wrong about thinking you did it for a dare. And I was. And I really like you. But what about your father?'

'Do we have to talk about it now?' Draco took both of my hands and stepped closer towards me so our noses were almost touching. 'I don't want to think about it until I really have to. And I can't go back home tonight. Could I possibly spend the night here?' I hugged him tightly and I breathed in his smell.

'Yes. And please remind me when we go back to Hogwarts that I need to thank Pansy.'

The next morning, I woke up in my bed still wearing my black lace dress and Slytherin jumper. I turned over to see an empty yet warm space beside me. Draco. I sat up and saw his broom still lent against the wall. He hadn't left yet. I turned to other side of my room to see him stood by my bookcase, looking at everything on it.

'It's not that interesting, Draco.' He turned and smiled at me, reaching to put his top back on.

'How come some of the pictures don't move?' He said as he began to button up his shirt.

'They're muggle photos. They're not supposed to.' I got up and wrapped my arms around him, and he kissed me on the forehead. 'Do you have to go?'

'Yes. The longer I leave an explanation, the worse my father will get. I don't want to go, but I have to.'

'Will you write to me?'

'I can't. There's a high chance my father will intercept the notes or the ministry will. I can't put you under that risk.'

'But, what about being a death eater? Your father will definitely make you become one now after this.'

'I know. So when we go back to Hogwarts in January, I'll be a death eater.' I felt tears began to roll down my cheeks at the thought of Draco, permanently scarred. 'Don't do that.' He wiped away some of the tears but I carried on.

'How can I not do this?! You might not be the same.' Draco wiped away the rest of my tears with his thumb and took both of his hands in his own.

My feelings for you won't change, Hermione. It'll just be a mark on my skin, that's all.' I nodded and buried my head in his chest. 'I need to go.' I looked up at him and he kissed me softly, entwining his hands in my hair. He let go of me and mounted his broom, flying out of the window. 'Come here.' I leaned my head out of the window and he kissed me one more time before flying off back to Malfoy Manor.

* * *

'Do you have any idea what you have done to the family name? First you want Viktor Krum in jail for life, then you were posing with mudblood Granger for the Daily Prophet, and now you and Pansy go AWOL during your engagement announcement! Anything else you'd like to tell me? Perhaps you've become friends with the Boy-Who-Won't-Die?!'

It was eight o'clock in the morning, and the house elves had been told to look out for me arriving back home so they could alert my father. I was stood in the biggest reception room in the manor, with my father screaming in my face.

'No.' But we did have a nice little conversation the other night. 'I left because I didn't want it. I don't want to marry Pansy. And she doesn't want to marry me. She's in love with Blaise.'

'Where did you go last night?'

'The Leaky Cauldron.'

My father narrowed his eyes at me. 'Malfoy's don't go in places like that.'

'Well, maybe I don't want to be a Malfoy anymore.' My father slapped me, and I tasted blood in my mouth. 'Can you seriously blame me for thinking that?! First you abuse my mum, then you go and kill my older sister just because she was female! Not to mention abusing me for the entire summer! Do you honestly think I want to be a Malfoy when all you do is bring destruction to people's lives?!' I turned and ran up the stairs and eventually arrived in the West Wing of the Manor where my bedroom was. I took out my wand and looked in the mirror, quickly healing my cheek with a simple spell Hermione had taught me. Hermione. I sighed as I thought of her.

_You're doing all of this for her._

I know. And I'd appreciate it if you'd shut up. I began to get changed into my ordinary clothes, leaving my dress robes in a pile on my bed for the house elves to come and collect later.

'Draco?' I looked up to see my mother stood in the hallway outside my room. 'Where did you go last night?'

'Who's to say I went anywhere? How do you not know that I flew on my broom all night long?'

'Because even you get broom sore occasionally.' My mother stepped into my room and took my face in both of her soft yet scarred hands. 'Who is she?'

'There's no one, mum. I just didn't want to marry Pansy.' I stepped away from her and gave some food to Sphinx, who was sat quietly on her perch in the corner of my bedroom.

'Draco, I'm your mother. I can tell. Who is she?'

I sighed. 'I can't tell you. It's not that I don't want to, because I really do. But if you knew Dad might beat you again to get it out of you.' She nodded and hugged me.

'Does she like you?'

'Yes. And I want it to work. She's not just a one off, like all of the other girls I've dated.' I paused and contemplated in my head how I felt about Hermione. 'I've never felt this way about a girl before, Mum. Ever.' She hugged my tighter then looked up at me.

'Well in that case, I can't wait to meet her.' She paused. 'You know, your father does love us both.'

'He has a funny way of showing it. Torturing me all summer and torturing you for most of your married life together.'

'I think Voldemort changed him. You know, everything was fine and happy one day between us, and when Lucius found out our baby was a girl he was delighted. But when she was born, he completely changed… Maybe after the war is over, and Voldemort is gone, everything will be normal once more.' I nodded and kissed my mum's cheek.

'Hopefully.'


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **Thanks to my reviewers **shaymars, Becqi, VAMPIRESEX **and **Have a Nice Dream**!

CHAPTER 12-

I was dying to think of a reason to go and find Draco, but none sprung to mind. I was sat back on the Hogwarts Express, staring out of the window once more, impatiently tapping my fingers on the seat.

'Hey, Ro-'

'Go and get your own sugar quills and chocolate frogs. I want to know what was up with Hermione just before Christmas.'

'Well, actually I was going to say Lavender wanted to speak with you, but you can get some sweets as well if you really want to.'

'Oh, right. Be back in a minute.' Ron went out of the compartment and down the train in search of his girlfriend, sliding the compartment door shut.

'What's happened?' Harry and Ginny were sat on the edge of their seats, eager to hear why I was so happy. I opened my mouth to speak, but I remembered Luna who was sat next Ginny, quietly reading the Quibbler. 'Luna's not going to tell anyone. Now get on with it, woman!'

By the time I had finished telling them about Christmas night, Ginny looked like she had been left breathless, and Harry's expression was stuck in between happiness and concern.

'Do you really think you should be dating a death eater? If this was maybe a couple of years ago, then that would be fine, but everyone knows that the war's coming.'

'Harry,I couldn't care less about him being a death eater. If he turned into Professor Snape, I would still date him!'

'Well, we've established now that Snape's actually a good guy, so that wouldn't be such a bad thing.' I laughed and Ron came back in.

'Are you sure Lavender wanted to talk to me, Harry?'

'No, put judging from your hair, she certainly wanted to kiss you.' Ron blushed as bright as his hair and began to flatten it down as he sat down next to me again. The compartment door slid open and we all turned to see who it was.

'Oi, Hermione, Professor McGonagall wants to see us in the Heads Compartment.' I held back a smile as I saw Draco stood in our compartment.

'Now?'

'Yes, right now. I know you're busy with your boyfriends, but-'

'Okay, okay. See you later, guys.' I got up and left, following Draco down the train to the Head's compartment. 'Do we really have to see McGonagall?'

'Yes.' I started to get worried.

'Isn't there some other reason you took me away from my friends?'

Draco turned to me and narrowed his eyes. 'No.' He registered the confused look on my face then grinned. 'Your face, Hermione! Of course there is, but I couldn't kiss you in front of your friends, now could I?' I rolled my eyes and shoved Draco to the side of the train to let me walk on ahead of him. 'You had to admit that was hilarious though.'

'Nope.' I walked into the compartment and stood by the window. Draco laughed and shut the compartment door, pulling down the blinds so no one could see into the compartment.

'Will this make it better then?' I turned to look at Draco to see him holding a black square velvet box. It was quite flat, and about the size of my potions book. I narrowed my eyes at him and took the box, opening it to find and a golden necklace with a small snake dangling off it, which had red gemstones in it.

'Draco…' He smiled and took the box off me, taking the necklace out of its wrappings and putting it on for me. 'It's beautiful. Thank you.'

'I'm glad you like it.' I pulled Draco's neck down to kiss him, but just as our lips were about to touch, there was a knock on the compartment door. Draco made some sort of growling noise before telling them to come in.

The door slid open and Colin Creevey was stood there with his camera. 'Hermione, Malfoy, there's a fight in the next compartment and I can't find any prefects, and you're the Heads, so…'

'One minute.' Colin walked off and Draco folded his arms. 'I think you're forgetting, Draco, that we share a common room.' Draco sighed and left, beginning to shout at some sixth years next door, giving them all detention with Filch for a week. Maybe if no one had disturbed us, he would have just taken some points off. I walked next door and joined him, holding back a smile as I watched him shout.

At about ten o'clock that night, we had finished up with meals, lessons, teachers and friends, and now we finally had the time to talk to each other without everyone around us thinking we had gone insane.

I was sat on the loveseat when Draco came in from the Dungeons. He dumped his bag by the portrait door and came and sat down next to me. He put his arm around me and leaned in to kiss me, but I put a finger to his mouth.

'I want to see it first, Draco.' He raised his eyebrow. 'Your dark mark.'

'Hermione… I don't want you to see it. It was horrible and I just want to forget about it. I don't want to be a death eater.' He took his arm from around me and turned to stare into the fire. I wrapped my hands around his muscular left arm and kissed him on the cheek.

'Please.' Draco looked at me, his eyes shining with the light from the fire. He turned away from me and rolled up one of his sleeves. I looked down at his arm and I covered my mouth in horror as I looked at the serpent twisting out of the skull. My face felt wet, and I hadn't noticed I had started to cry. He looked at me and quickly rolled down his shirt sleeve, then his jumper.

'This is why I didn't want you to see it.' He kissed away my tears and I wiped my eyes. I leaned into Draco's chest and he held me as I thought about how Voldemort had scared him. I suddenly began to think about what Harry said about Snape on the train. _Well, we've established now that Snape's actually a good guy, so that wouldn't be such a bad thing._ I shot up and grabbed his hands. 'What is it, Hermione?'

'Professor Snape! He's a death eater, but he's a spy for the light side.'

'Yeah, I know. Dumbledore told me.'

'Well, what about you?' He raised an eyebrow, showing he didn't understand. 'Why don't you become a spy for the Order?' Draco stared at me open-mouthed.

'I don't know, Hermione. I don't really want to be on either side, I don't want to be a part of the war. Besides, things are dangerous enough as it is, with me being a death eater, you're part of the Golden Trio, and now you're my girlfriend, we're just practically asking for Voldemort to come and kill us right now.'

'But being on the light side would mean you're safe. And that would put my mind at rest.' I stared into Draco's silver pools for a long time before he nodded.

'Okay. Let's go and talk to Dumbledore.' Draco grabbed my hand and we ran out of the portrait and down the flights of stairs until we reached Dumbledore's office. 'Fudge.' The stairs curled around from behind the gargoyle and we ran up the stairs to find Dumbledore feeding Fawkes.

'Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. You look slightly happier since the last time you ran in here. What's happened?'

'Professor, I had been thinking about what you said about me becoming a spy for the light side, and I've decided to become a spy with Professor Snape.' The old professor smiled and sat down behind his desk.

'That will prove very helpful, thank you. All you have to do is report back to me after a meeting to tell me anything that will be helpful to the light side. For example, if they are planning to attack a village, we can be lying in wait to help save the people.'

'Wouldn't it make more sense to evacuate everybody?'

'No. Then Voldemort knew there was a traitor in his midst. Anyway, before a meeting, you will meet Professor Snape down in his office. He will brief you on how to act, and you will arrive and leave the meetings with him. Understood?' Draco nodded. 'You may go to bed. I will inform the Order. Miss Granger, please will you tell Mr Potter and Miss Weasley?'

'What about Ron?'

'I don't think Mr Weasley is ready for any kind of revelation from Mr Malfoy quite yet.' Dumbledore winked, as if he knew what was going on, and began to write on a piece of parchment. We turned and left, going back up to our common room, but not before a conversation with Al.

'Hey, guys! The professor just told me! When did this happen?' The boy in the portrait sat on the edge of the chair he was sitting on, much like the way Harry and Ginny had done earlier.

'About ten minutes ago.'

'Not that. That.' Al wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Draco nodded.

'Christmas day.'

'That is so romantic! I told you it would happen.' I looked between Draco and the portrait with a bewildered look on my face.

'Al knew that you liked me? A portrait knew before me?!'

'Strictly speaking, first it was Professor Lupin, then Al, then Blaise, Pansy, and my mum sort of knows too. But I bet you've told people!'

'Yeah, I suppose you're right. I told my cat, Harry and Ginny. And McGonagall. But she worked it out.'

'Ah, McGonagall…' We turned to look at Al, whose expression had turned into a dreamlike state. 'I had a crush on her when I was your age. Still am your age, but, you know what I mean. The older version of me likes her too, but he thinks that she'll go for Professor Snape.' Al looked dejected and let his face smack into his hands.

'I think you… well, the older you, should ask her about her feelings. She said to me a few weeks ago that you only live once.' Draco put his arm around me and I sighed into his touch. Al thought for a moment.

'Yeah. Okay. I'll tell him what to do. Thanks, Hermione.' I shrugged and spoke the password, both of us going to sit on the love seat as soon as the portrait door swung open.

'Please can I kiss you now? I've waited since Christmas for this.' I giggled and finally gave Draco what he wanted.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **Thanks to my reviewers, **VAMPIRESEX, Clarky59 **and** Devilish Dream, **who has reviewed on every other chapter, but it did put a smile on my face when I got them

CHAPTER 13-

I was sat down at breakfast like usual at the Gryffindor table, ready for another day of lessons. Ginny was opposite me, Ron next to me. The hall began to fill up with all of the students, and more racks of toast and plates of other breakfast items were appearing on all four of the house tables. Hermione walked in and sat next to Ginny, followed shortly by Draco who sat opposite her on the Slytherin table, next to Pansy and Blaise.

'Hey, Harry, Ginny. Look what _David_ got me.' Hermione took a necklace out from under her shirt collar and a golden serpent with rubies studded into it hung from a chain.

'Merlin, that's gorgeous! I wish I dated someone as rich as him.'

'Thanks, Ginny.'

'But you know I love Harry too much for that.' Ginny smiled and caressed my hand and I smiled back. Luna began skipping down the aisle towards us.

'Look out, Loony's about.'

'Ronald! Don't say that.'

'Whatever, Hermione. I'm going to care of magical creatures with Lav, I'll see you there?' Me and Hermione nodded and they left, Luna now stood next to where Hermione was sat.

'What is it, Luna?'

'Well, I was listening to what you said on the train and well… just look at the Slytherin table.' I turned to look to see Draco flirting with a sixth year girl, clearly enjoying it. I whipped back around to look at Hermione, to see a tear already falling down her tanned cheek.

'Hermione…'

'It's fine, Harry. Clearly, he doesn't care. I should have known better.' Hermione unclasped the necklace and slammed it down on the table, and left the Great Hall briskly, probably to go to care of magical creatures.

'He's is no way getting away with this.' I looked at Ginny to see her face matching her hair and her nostrils flared. She stood up and shouted louder than Ron's mum in the howler he received during second year. 'DRACO MALFOY!' Draco whipped around, his skin paler than normal, looking scared. Everyone, including the teachers and ghosts, turned to look at Ginny and Draco, mid-mouthful. 'A word?' He nodded and he got up and left the hall, me, Ginny and Luna following.

'Yes, Ginny?'

'How dare you flirt with another girl whilst going out with Hermione?! Do you know how much she likes you? Then you go and just flirt with sixth year. A sixth year! You could have at the very least picked someone who matched Hermione's intelligence and good looks, which she is the highest on both scales for. She thinks that this whole relationship is a stupid trick, so much so, that this is the necklace that you gave her.' Ginny held up the golden necklace and Draco blinked. 'Now she's gone to care of magical creatures crying her eyes out. Harry, Luna, back me up here.'

'Totally, Draco.'

'Mmmm, yeah.'

'Care of magical creatures?' Ginny nodded and Draco snatched the necklace off Ginny and ran out of the big oak doors and through the entrance courtyard, down the covered walkway, through the stone circle and then down the hill towards Hagrid's hut.

* * *

Where was Hermione? I looked around frantically at the ever growing crowd of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, but couldn't see Hermione anywhere. I looked around and saw Weasley staring at me, holding Lavender close to him. Harry was stood beside him and he came over.

'Found her?'

'No, and the longer I leave this, the worse it's going to get, right?' Harry nodded and we both heard a twig snap in the forbidden forest to the right of us. We both turned to see a figure running through the forest in a Gryffindor uniform with long, curly brown hair. 'Hermione.' We both ran into the forest quite away, to find the object of my desires lent against the tree sobbing her heart out.

'Go away.' Harry approached her and wiped away a few of her tears.

'Hermione, don't run off, but you need to hear Draco out. I don't know what his reason for flirting with another girl is, but it better be a good one.' Harry smiled at her and left the forest, going back to Hagrid's Hut.

'Hermione, I know this will sound stupid, but if I don't flirt with girls, my father will get suspicious. Crabbe and Goyle are like his spies and report to him when they think something suspicious is going on, and me not flirting with girls is suspicious. I'm really sorry and I should have told you about it earlier. Flirting with other girls will never change the way I feel about you though. Am I forgiven?' I hung my head in shame and I heard Hermione walk over to me and take the necklace out of my hands.

'Why didn't you explain before?'

'We've barely had time to see each other since Christmas. We've only really properly spoken once, and Dumbledore was present for most of that.'

'Then tell me everything else now.'

'I can't. You'll be late for care of magical creatures and I'll be late for Herbology. When people notice we're both missing… and someone might overhear me talking to you. I'll tell you everything tonight, I promise.' I took the necklace of Hermione, put it back around her neck and dropped it down her top so no one would see it. I kissed her and ran out of the forest, back up to the castle and then to the greenhouses.

* * *

I was sat waiting impatiently in the common room for Hermione that evening. I paced back and forward, transfiguring my watch into different objects that reminded me of Hermione: her shampoo bottle, her Gryffindor scarf, her wand, a blue rose… I was on the verge of just going up to her bedroom and breathing in her scent from her pillow just as she walked in.

'Sorry I'm late. Ginny needed…' I ran too her in front of the portrait door and muffled her words with a kiss. We wrapped our arms around each other and when we finished, I pulled her over to the loveseat so I could tell her about all the dangers and the things she would need to get used to as my girlfriend.

'You can't cheer for me during Quidditch matches, especially not against Gryffindor. No looking at me or talking to me in class unless we happen to get partnered up or put next to each other. No staring at each other across the tables at mealtimes. I'll flirt with other girls but it won't mean a thing. Pansy and Blaise are still to be mean to you and your friends, as I am with you and your friends, despite the fact that we're supposed to be promoting inter-house unity. No going down to the Slytherin dungeons to find me or asking any of the Slytherins where I am. No interrupting my Quidditch training… I think that's it.'

'So the only time we can talk is in Transfiguration class and in the common room. Is there actually a point to this relationship?'

'Hermione…' I looked at her properly for the first time that night and saw that her brow was furrowed and her eyes were glassed over.

'There are so many rules and regulations that I have to follow.'

'If the war wasn't coming, then it wouldn't matter. But it's going to start any day now, and even talking in the common room might not be safe soon. I'm sorry...'

'Draco! Draco, wait…' I got up from the loveseat and ran to my room, locking the door behind me. I took my broom from where it was lent against the wall, took it out onto the balcony, mounted it and flew off.

* * *

'Hermione said you were outside.' An hour later, I was flying around the Quidditch pitch, trying to clear my head. Hermione was right. There was no point to this relationship. We'd been together for a week and because of our circumstances, not only was our relationship forbidden but restricted. I looked up as Harry approached me on his Firebolt, wearing the dark blue jacket he always seemed to wear. I nodded.

'Did she tell you we argued?'

'Yes. In normal circumstances, I would take this opportunity to tell you to get lost and leave Hermione alone as her life is already hard and complicated as it is. But she likes you a lot, and I'm not about to take away her happiness in times like these.'

'You're an alright bloke, you know, Harry.'

'I never thought those words would ever come out of your mouth, Draco Malfoy.'

'Is Hermione upset?' I began to fly back with Harry to the castle, hoping no death eaters were watching from afar.

'Work it out.'

'I'll take that as a yes then. How much?'

'Enough to warrant an apology from you, but not as upset as she was over the Christmas break. Get back to your common room and tell her that everything is going to be alright and who you both are won't make a difference to this relationship. Go!' Harry pushed my broom and I zoomed off over the top of the whomping willow and back up to the castle.

I landed softly on my balcony and walked through to my room to hear someone crying. I looked over at my bed to see Hermione led down on it with her head buried in my pillow, curls a mess down her back. I lent my broom against the wall and climbed on the bed next to her a wrapped my arms around her small form and rested my chin in her bed of curls.

'I'm sorry. We're going to make it work, Hermione. We'll tell our friends the password to our common room so they can come in and we spend time together and with them. And you can secretly cheer for me at Quidditch matches if you like.'

Hermione twisted round to look at me and I wiped away her tears. 'Thank you. What made you change your mind?'

'Strangely, Harry Potter.' She smiled and we kissed.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **Thanks to my reviewers **VAMPIRESEX **and **DevilishDream**, as well as my beta, **DarkeFairie**!

CHAPTER 14-

It was the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff today, and under my cloak and Gryffindor scarf, I was wearing Draco's green jumper.

'Is he nervous?'

'Why would Draco be nervous about a Quidditch match? It's only against Hufflepuff, not Gryffindor.' Me and Ginny laughed and linked arms as we walked through the grounds of Hogwarts to the Quidditch pitch. 'Do you think I'd be allowed to cheer for Slytherin? I'm supposed to be promoting inter-house unity, after all…'

Ginny pursed her lips and then smiled. 'I think you should. I'll even cheer with you. Wasn't one of his rules to not cheer for him though?'

'There's a difference between cheering for his house and cheering for him. Who said anything about cheering for him?'

I had to sit in the stand where the teachers and commentator was sat since I was Head Girl, but as Draco was playing in the match, Ginny was allowed to sit with me.

'Miss Granger, which house will you be cheering for today?' McGonagall, who was sat next Dumbledore who was sat next to Snape, tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around.

'Slytherin.' Snape sniggered and I turned to him.

'Dumbledore has told me of your current position in Mr Malfoy's life. Wouldn't it be far safer to not cheer for his house?'

'I'm promoting inter-house unity. I'm allowed to, Professor.' I turned around and Dumbledore stood up behind me, cast Sonorous on himself, and spoke out to all four houses of Hogwarts.

'Welcome everybody, to the first Quidditch match of the year! Madame Hooch will start the match shortly, but for once I would like to ask personally for a nice, clean game. Even though the players aren't out on the pitch yet I know that they can hear me. Madame Hooch, over to you.'

Madame Hooch nodded from where she was stood in the middle of the Quidditch pitch and waved her wand, opening the doors to where the two teams would fly out from. The Hufflepuff team flew slowly and gracefully to their positions, led by the captain, Zacharias Smith, whereas the Slytherin team flew fast, like a storm, headed by Draco. As he flew into his position opposite the teacher stand, Snape nodded to him and he nodded back. Draco stuck his tongue out at me and I smiled.

I could vaguely hear Madame Hooch talking to the two teams, then she blew her whistle and threw the quaffle up in the air. The chasers went after it straight away, scoring 30 points for Slytherin in the first five minutes as well as one of the Slytherin beaters almost knocking a Hufflepuff player out cold with a bludger.

'Oh, that was a close one for Abbott! Now Tate gets the quaffle, passes it to Bones, but oh, Slytherin's keeper Theodore Knott blocks the goal! He passes the quaffle to Parkinson after an ill-aimed bludger misses him. Parkinson passes it to Greengrass. She drops it! Zabini catches it, flies fast towards the scoring rings and goal! Macmillan fails to save it! Ten more points to Slytherin!' Me, Ginny and Snape all jumped cheering as well as the entire of Slytherin house. I saw Draco grinning wildly as Blaise flew up to where he was hovering. I couldn't hear what he said, but Draco turned to me and he looked at me weirdly, so I just stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. Blaise flew back down to his position and he received a kiss from Pansy. I sighed.

The game carried on and the score was 40 to Hufflepuff and 70 to Slytherin before the Snitch was sighted. Draco's eagle eyes kept on darting around the pitch looking for the golden ball when he finally saw it in front of the teacher's stand. Colin Creevey, who sat next to Ginny, began taking pictures of Draco zooming over to it. 'Malfoy sees the snitch. Finch-Fletchley doesn't know what's hit him. He begins to try and spot Malfoy, but the Slytherin seeker is moving too fast for him!' Me and Ginny stood up as Draco approached the stand to cheer him on, and the commentator, Ernie MacMillan, who was sat next to me picked up on it. 'And the Head girl and Miss Weasley stand up to cheer on the Slytherin's: evidentally trying to promote inter house unity.' Dumbledore laughed from behind me and Draco chased the snitch around the pitch, Justin hot on his tail.

'Do you think he'll catch it?' Ginny shouted at me above the furore.

'He better catch it.' Ginny laughed and we kept our eyes locked on Draco and Justin chasing after the snitch.

'Justin and Draco are neck and neck after the snitch now. Draco's in front, no, Justin is. It's too close to call! Who'll get it first?! It's only going to be a matter of tim- Draco's caught the snitch! Slytherin house win the match!' Me, Ginny and the rest of Slytherin house cheered at their victory. I looked over at the other houses in the stands: Hufflepuff was sulking, a few Ravenclaws were smiling, and several of the Gryffindors were cheering. Draco flew close to all of the stands, showing off the snitch still in his hand, receiving a high five off Harry when he came past the Gryffindors. Harry's high five was soon swiftly followed by a dirty look from Ron and he began to argue with Harry as Draco flew back up onto the pitch and celebrated with his teammates.

'I want to go and congratulate him.'

'You can do it later, Hermione. You don't want people getting suspicious.' Me and Ginny left the Quidditch pitch with everyone else, going to Gryffindor Tower instead of the Head's common room as Draco would be down in the dungeons celebrating for a while yet. Harry and Ron were already there, and they were stood in front of the fire arguing about Draco.

'I just don't understand why you high fived Malfoy!'

'Because he won the Quidditch match. And he played a pretty good game today. I think I would have high fived him even he beat me.'

Ron threw his arms up in the air in protest, but spotted me and Ginny enter the common room and carried on the argument. 'Hermione, back me up on this, how horrible is Malfoy?'

'He's not too bad. I occasionally have a go at him if he plays his music too loud, uses all of the hot water, leaves his things everywhere or brings a girl back to our common room, but he's alright. You saw how he was when Krum… you know. I suppose he just doesn't like you Ron. Don't be so mean to him in future.' I smiled sweetly at Ron and he opened and closed his mouth several times before wandering out of the common room in a huff. Me, Ginny and Harry laughed and sat down on the settee and talked about the match. At eleven o'clock, which was curfew for everyone but the prefects, Ron came back in and went straight up to his room. I bid goodnight to Harry and Ginny and left them curled up on the settee together and went back down to the first floor and went inside the portrait of young Albus Dumbledore.

'Has Draco come back yet?' Al shook his head and smiled. 'Has the older version of you asked out Professor McGonagall out yet?' Al laughed.

'No, but he's working up to it. By the time the war is over, he'll have asked her.' We both smiled and I entered the common room and began to start on my Defence Against the Darks essay due in two weeks from now on the unforgivable curses. An hour and halfway through Hogwarts: A History, Draco returned to the common room.

'Well done! You played a brilliant match today!' Draco smiled and dumped his Quidditch robes on the floor and led down on the loveseat, his head immersed in the pillows.

'Thank you…' I got up from the armchair, put my book on the floor and stood next to the loveseat.

'You look exhausted.'

'Well, obviously. I won a Quidditch match, then I've been celebrating all night, talking to everyone single person in my house and dodging Astoria so she won't kiss me.' Draco sat up slowly and pulled me down by the wrist, sat me on his lap and hugged me. 'You weren't supposed to cheer today.'

'I was cheering for your house. Not you. I only cheered for you once, and Ginny cheered with me. No will suspect anything. It's not like I ran out onto the pitch at the end of the match and kissed you.'

'Fair enough.'

'Are you friends with Harry now?'

'I suppose I am. How did Weasley take it? He didn't look too happy with me.'

'He's never happy with you.' I stroked the side of his face and leaned into kiss him, the tapping at the window stopping me. Draco lifted me off his knee and set me down on the loveseat whilst he got up and opened the window. A ministry owl flew into the room and landed next to me. I untied the letter from around its ankle and read it to myself before dropping it to the floor, allowing Draco to pick it up and read it.

_Dear Miss Hermione Granger,_

_Due to the rape allegation you have made against Mr Viktor Krum, the trial will be held this Saturday, at half past ten in the Ministry of Magic court room five. A similar letter has been sent to your headmaster, Mr Albus Dumbledore and letters will also be sent to the witnesses at, after and before the alleged rape took place. Minor Witnesses: _

_Mr Harry Potter_

_Mr Ronald Weasely_

_Mr Albus Dumbledore_

_Mr Remus Lupin_

_Key Witnesses:_

_Mr Draco Malfoy_

_It is absolutely key that you attend this trial. Due to the allegation you have made we know that seeing Mr Viktor Krum may be psychologically damaging, but without you, the trial will be cancelled._

_We hope to see you in court._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Themelda Honker_

'Hermione…' Draco sat down and put the letter next to him and stared straight into the fire.

'I know. You're the key witness. Without you there, Krum won't get convicted.'

'How do you know I'm not going to go and testify?'

I stood up and turned to him. 'It's not that you won't. It's because you can't. Do you realise how suspicious you standing up in court and saying I saved Hogwart's most famous mudblood from rape is?'

'But I want to. And like you said, he'll get convicted if I don't turn up. We're in this together, Hermione. I don't care what people think. Like you said before Christmas, the war will have come and gone soon.' Draco pulled me into a strong hug, and I let myself cry on his shoulder.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Thank you to my reviewers **maddiamos98, Devilish Dream, VAMPIRE SEX **and **Blood Red Gun**, and my beta **Darke Fairie**! Sorry for the long wait, had a lot of college work to do.

CHAPTER 15-

'Are you ready?'

'I don't think I'll ever be ready.' I was stood in my bedroom, looking in the full length mirror, carefully inspecting the outfit I had chosen to wear to court. Draco was lent against the door frame wearing a suit, his face holding an expression of deep concern. 'Did you tell your father?'

'No. So when the Daily Prophet comes out tomorrow, he'll be down here all guns blazing. You better keep your distance tomorrow.' I nodded and grabbed my wand from the bedside table.

'Let's go.' I smiled bravely and Draco took my hand as we walked down the stairs and through the common room. 'Are you sure you want to go? You don't have to.' Draco took my face in both of his hands.

'I'm going. I don't care. Yes, my father will have a go at me. Yes, everyone at Hogwarts will find out what happened. Yes, Rita Skeeter will poke her nose in it, but we have each other, and what's more, we have the support of our closest friends. Minus Ron on your side.' Draco kissed me passionately, but pulled away quickly. 'We're going to be late.' He let go of me and left the common room, walking slightly in front of me on the stairs so the students going down to breakfast wouldn't notice. I caught up with up as we neared Dumbledore's office; the crowds thinning out slightly.

We ascended the stairs to the office together, Harry, Ron, Lupin and Dumbledore waiting patiently, all dressed in their best clothes.

'Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. Let us away to the astronomy tower.' Dumbledore smiled softly at us and we all followed him down some more corridors and up to the astronomy tower. 'Everyone, please hold on to me.' Dumbledore had his wand at the ready, Lupin holding his free hand. Harry and Ron stood behind Lupin, grasping Dumbledore's left arm, me and Draco opposite them, holding hands too.

Within a few seconds, we had arrived at a telephone box on the corner of the street, and me and Draco quickly let go of each other.

'I believe you've used the visitors entrance before, Harry. Care to show us?' Harry nodded and we all managed to squeeze into the phone box, Draco and Ron looking around nervously and the strange contraption they had entered. Harry pressed several buttons and the phone box began to move upwards, like a lift. It dinged to a halt and the doors opened, all of us stumbling out onto the Ministry's atrium floor.

I looked around at the green tiles, the big statue of the minster, owls flying everywhere and the amount of people wandering around, and I suddenly felt very small, and even more scared than before I left the Head's common room this morning. I stepped backwards and Draco put a hand on my back and smiled to reassure me. 'I believe we're on the fifth floor for the trial.' Dumbledore and Lupin moved swiftly through the crowds to the lifts, the four of us following them, everyone staring at the Golden Trio and Draco Malfoy getting on. We got in the lift and travelled to the fifth floor, to be greeted by Mr Weasley.

'Hermione! How are you? Dumbledore told me everything.'

'I'm fine, Mr Weasley.'

'Glad to hear it. Ron, my boy! And Harry!' Mr Weasley smiled at Harry and Ron and shook hands with Lupin and Dumbledore before looking suspiciously at Draco. 'Mr Malfoy. I hear you're the prosecution's key witness.'

'That's correct. Please call me Draco.' Mr Weasley raised his eyebrows but nodded and smiled all of the same.

'This way. They sent me to come and get you. Hermione will be going in first, followed by Remus, then Draco, Harry, Ron and finally Albus. Until it's your turn you'll have to sit outside and wait until you're called in, but after that you can watch from the stands.' We all nodded and followed Mr Weasley through a series of corridors before he told Draco, Harry, Ron, Lupin and Dumbledore to sit on a bench outside of the court room. 'Are you ready?' I nodded and followed Mr Weasley into the court room, seeing Krum stood in the dock. He cast me and evil glance as I walked towards the witness box, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to be there anymore.

Mr Weasley closed the small door to the witness box and smiled at me before going to stand by the entrance to the court room so he could leave to get the rest of the witnesses when we needed them.

'Miss Granger, please place your wand on the desk and repeat after me, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.'

'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.' My wand disappeared and I looked up at the Minister and the two sides of the jury.

'Let us get straight down to business. Are we correct in saying that this man tried to rape you?' I looked at Krum and nodded.

'Yes, sir.'

'And did you lead him on in any way to make him think that you wanted to have intercourse with him?'

'No, sir.'

'May I present to you, Minister, exhibit A. This a letter from Mr Krum addressed to Miss Granger about his intentions, just a week before the incident took place.' A member of the jury handed the Minister a sheet of paper, and he read it over a few times.

'Mr Krum, do you deny that this is a letter you sent?'

'Yes, sir.' I began to cry quietly and took a tissue out of the box that had suddenly appeared on the stand. 'I did not write any such letter. Me and Hermione only ever exchanged sweet words, it's just that Malfoy boy putting ideas into her head.'

'Liar!'

'Miss Granger, please. Go on, Mr Krum.'

'I understand that it would have been Hermione's first time so she would be scared, but I never thought that she would have ever described it like this.' The Minister raised his eyebrows.

'Miss Granger?'

'He's lying. I didn't want to have sex with him. And Draco had really nothing to do with it. He found me crying one night in my room and went in the day after when I was in class and found the letters from Krum and offered to help. Draco didn't put any ideas in my head.'

The Minister nodded and he scribbled down something on a piece of parchment in front of him. 'This next bit may be a little hard for you, Miss Granger, but please describe how Mr Krum tried to rape you.'

I took and deep breathe and swallowed. 'I was in the Heads common room and Draco was in my room wearing an invisibility cloak. Krum knocked on the portrait and I went to open it. He handed me and some wilted flowers, kissed me and then dragged me up to my bedroom and threw me on the bed. He told me he was going to rape me because I wasn't ready to have sex with him. He used a cutting spell to slice off the straps on my top and then Draco threw off the invisibility cloak and cast expelliarmus and then perfiticus totalus on Krum and then he locked all of the doors and we went down to Dumbledore's office, meeting Harry and Ron on the way there.'

'Thank you, Miss Granger. You may go, or sit in the stands to watch the rest of the proceedings. Mr Weasley, please call in the next witness: Mr Remus Lupin.' My wand appeared again and I took it as Mr Weasley nodded and left whilst I nervously climbed down from the witness box and sat in the stands opposite the smirking Rita Skeeter with her quick quotes quill, which would have been writing down everything I just said.

'Mr Lupin, you are Miss Granger's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, are you not?'

'That's correct, Sir.'

'And did Miss Granger experience a bad boggart?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Please describe to the members of the jury what exactly happened.'

'I was doing a boggart lesson for their N.E.W.T.S, so whilst the rest of the class were writing up notes on boggarts, I took the students through one at a time to my store room where the boggart was so they could cast ridiculous on it. When Hermione came in, the boggart transformed into…'

'Please continue, Mr Lupin. What was the nature of Miss Granger's boggart?'

'It transformed into Krum… raping her.' The jury gasped and they all scribbled notes and I had begun to cry silently again. 'She ran out crying, and naturally, Harry and Ron went to go and comfort her. I had a word with Hermione after, but she wouldn't tell me anything.'

'In the events leading up to the day of the attempted rape, did you notice anything different in Miss Granger?'

'I don't think I can really answer that, sir. I hadn't seen Hermione in a while and people change, so I couldn't tell you if she was acting strangely.'

'Thank you, Mr Lupin. You may leave or sit in the stands to watch the rest of the trial. Mr Weasley, please bring in…' The Minister read the piece of paper in front of him several times before verifying the name with the closest member of the jury. 'Mr Draco Malfoy.' Everyone gasped and Rita Skeeter's face lit up with excitement. Mr Weasley left and brought in Draco, no one taking their eyes off him as he walked from the door to the witness box. 'Mr Malfoy, you share a common room with Miss Granger, is that correct?'

'Yes, sir. We are head boy and head girl, so it is Hogwarts custom for us to do so.'

'And how did you find out about Mr Krum's intentions?'

'Professor Dumbledore wanted to se-' The door opened at the back of the room and Draco's father was stood there, all dressed in black, head held high. He bit his lip at the sight of Draco stood in the witness box but sat down in the stands just in front of Rita Skeeter. Draco looked like he had stopped breathing and ran his fingers through his hair, hoping he had made it presentable enough for his father.

'Please continue, Mr Malfoy.'

'He wanted to see our plans for the winter ball so I went to get Herm- Granger, but she wasn't answering when I knocked on her door. I went in and she was sat on the floor crying with a letter in front of her. She quickly put it away and we went to see Dumbledore, but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong with her. I went back the next day when I was meant to be class and found the letter and put it in my room and asked her about it that night.'

'And how did you help Miss Granger in stopping the rape?'

'Using an invisibility cloak, I would hide in Granger's room and act if Krum tried anything.'

'An invisibility cloak? How did you get one? They are very rare.' Don't say Harry. Don't say Harry.

'With a father like mine, nothing's rare. We have several at home.' The Minister nodded.

'Thank you, Mr Malfoy. You may leave or sit in the stands and watch the rest of the proceedings.' Draco nodded and his father jerked his head at him and they both left, Mr Weasley bringing in Harry. My mind went numb for the rest of the trial. Harry and Ron both said something like they hadn't noticed my sadness as they were distracted with my girlfriends, and went to make sure Krum hadn't escaped, and Dumbledore testified how I was just before I fainted in his office. The jury adjourned to think about their decision, and I left the courtroom with Harry, Ron, Dumbledore, Lupin and Mr Weasley.

We went back to the atrium and sat on a bench, watching the whole wizarding world go by as I lent on Harry's shoulder. There was no sign of Draco for the silent hour we waited until the last five minutes. He came from out of nowhere, his face paler than usual. I raised my eyebrows at him and he nodded sadly. I bit my lip and an owl flew over with a letter tied to its leg. Mr Weasley unravelled it and he told us the verdict was in. We went back to the fifth floor and all sat in the stands, Rita Skeeter sat opposite us again, but Draco's father was absent.

'Members of the jury, have you reached a decision which you are all agreed upon?'

'Yes, sir.' Themelda Hopkins, the one who sent me the letter about the trial, stood up.

'State your verdict.'

'We find the accused, Mr Viktor Krum, guilty of attempted rape.' It felt like I had let out of breath I had been holding for a long time. I hugged Harry and Ron and smiled at Draco who nodded back, looking slightly better than before.

'As this is only attempted rape, I can only possibly give you a permanent restraining order on Miss Granger.' Krum turned in the dock and smirked at me and I began to cry once more.

'Do you have any idea what he's put her through?!' Draco stood up and began shouting at the Minister of Magic.

'Excuse me, Mr Malfoy?' The Minister's nostrils flared and Draco reluctantly sat down, the look on Rita Skeeter's face priceless.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: **Thanks to my beta **DarkeFairie **and my reviewers **Judy12 **(I'll try to be better with spelling! Thank you for telling me! ), the person the **Guest **account,** Cougirl, Belieber Twihard, McCannon5887, VAMPIRESEX**, and as always, **Devilish Dream! **If you celebrate it, I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy new year! Sorry for the long wait: I have exams coming up.

CHAPTER 16-

'Why did he only get a restraining order?'

'Stop going on about it, Draco.' Me and Draco were walking through the corridors back to our common room after Dumbledore had finished discussing some head's business with us. 'It's not like Krum tried to rape you.' Students passed us in the corridors, not noticing we were together, thinking we were doing early patrols or something.

'But it's stupid!'

'And nothing says suspicious like shouting at the Minister for Magic in front of a court room full of people.' Draco chewed his lips, looked around the corridor and dragged me into the nearest broom cupboard.

'Are you actually grateful for what I did?'

'Of course I'm grateful! I just don't want what we have to end because of one of us being careless and someone who shouldn't finding out about this. I'm sorry, it just upset me. Krum may not be allowed near me, but he can stare across a room at me.' Draco hugged me and I wanted to cry into his shoulder.

'No crying.'

'But I feel safe here.'

'In a broom cupboard?'

'In your arms, stupid.' I kissed him on the cheek and lent back on his chest, Draco swaying me from side to side, humming the Beauty and the Beast song from the winter ball.

'I have something for you.' I looked up at him with a questioning glance. 'You have to follow me.' Draco grinned mischievously and let go of me and began to walk briskly down the corridor, the blazer he had worn for the trial now slung over his shoulder. I was almost running to keep up with him, trying not to scream at the girls who were eying up his toned chest which was visible beneath his black shirt.

'If you don't tell me, you're going to be sorry, Draco Malfoy!' He turned his head and smirked, picking up his pace as he began to walk up the moving staircases. 'I'm serious Draco. What is it?' I cornered him outside the portrait of Al and he simply smiled and spoke the password to our common room, the portrait door opening to reveal all of my friends in there.

'Surprise!' They all shouted at me from inside, the room decorated with streamers and banners. Harry was there, along with Ron, Ginny, Luna, Pavarti, Lavender, Padma, Cho, Dean, Neville and Seamus. At the top of the stairs by Draco's room sat Pansy and Blaise, smiling down at the two of us. I looked up at Draco and he smiled.

'Yeah, we didn't get the result we wanted at court, but he still got a restraining order. So let's celebrate!' I bit my lip and laughed, wanting to kiss my boyfriend right there, but couldn't in front of my friends. We stepped into the common room and let the party commence, dancing and eating our way through the house elves best treats. Draco sat with Pansy and Blaise on the stairs for most of the party watching me chat with my friends. When Pansy and Blaise left, he came and talked to Harry, who managed to entice Ron into a conversation with Draco about Quidditch.

Within two hours, most of my friends had decided to retire to their dormitories, leaving me, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Lavender. My two best friends were dancing with their respective girlfriends to a slow Weird Sisters track, and Draco had randomly disappeared, so I began to gather up the bowls that the party food was in and put them on the table at the back of the room. On my second trip to the table, someone had walked over to me and slipped their hands around my waist from behind me.

'Hello, beautiful.'

'Draco!' Our voices were barely audible above a whisper, as not to disturb the two dancing couples. 'Someone will see.'

'They're practically sleeping standing up. I doubt it.' I turned around in Draco's strong arms and found that he had changed into jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, opposed to the suit he was wearing earlier.

'Thank you.'

'It's okay.' We joined in with slow dance, feeling a bandaged arm around my waist.

'Why does your arm have a bandage on it?'

'When you see the dark mark it makes you cry. Problem solved.' I smiled and he leaned down to kiss me, but before he could, Ron decided to explode into a fit of anger.

'What the hell are you two doing?!' Lavender paused the music and everyone stopped moving, but Draco held onto me.

'Ron… we… I…'

'You and Malfoy? Really?!' I opened my mouth to defend us both, but Ron had seen too much already and had punched Malfoy in the face, much like I had done four years ago. Draco was knocked out of my arms and onto the floor. Lavender, being the Drama Queen, screamed, and the only thing that stopped Ron coming back for more was Harry restraining him.

I leaped down on the floor next to Draco, who was poking his bleeding nose. 'Don't touch it. Ginny, can you get a tissue?' Ginny ran over to the table and handed me the box. I stuffed a load into Draco's face and Ginny arranged them and held them against his nose, telling Draco to pinch his nose's bridge.

'How could you, Ron?'

'How could I?! You're dating a ferret!'

'Who says we're dating?!'

'I'd say the way he was about to kiss you was pretty conclusive evidence that you're dating!' Ron managed to shrug off Harry, but stayed close to him as Lavender came over.

'You can't tell anyone.'

'Why the hell would I want to tell anyone? This is disgusting! Let's go everyone.' Lavender walked with Ron to the portrait, but Ginny and Harry stayed where they were. 'You two, now.' Ginny handed me the tissues and took Harry's hand.

'We'll come by before breakfast tomorrow morning.' I nodded and they left with a fuming Ron and hysterical Lavender. I took my wand and healed up Draco's nose, and he sat up looking slightly dazed.

'Why didn't you retaliate?'

'Because he's one of your best friends. You're friends with Pansy and Blaise, so I think it's only fair I try to be friends with yours. Harry and Ginny are fine, but Ron… I don't think punching him back would be the smartest thing to do.' I hugged him and he smiled. 'I need to get some sleep. I have Quidditch practice tomorrow morning.' I nodded and he left, and I eventually went up to my room and changed into my pyjamas.

Sleep refused to take over my body, as I was too scared about the implications of Ron and Lavender knowing about me and Draco. Ron was a hot-head, and anytime either of us annoyed him, he wouldn't think for a second about shouting his mouth off to the whole Hogwarts about us. Lavender wasn't much better. Her and Pavarti were mini Rita Skeeter's, and if they didn't know something about the social lives of the students of Hogwarts, it wasn't worth knowing about. And this was DEFINITELY worth knowing about.

I tossed and turned and eventually got up and went to Draco's room, knocking on the door before entering. 'Hermione.' He smiled upon seeing me, propping himself up on his elbows.

'I can't sleep.' Draco pulled back some of the black sheets and patted the space on the mattress for me to come and lie with him. I did as he motioned, curling up beside his warm body.

'What's troubling you?'

'I can't stop thinking about Ron and Lavender. What if they tell someone?'

'Then the war will probably start early, people will die and things will never be the same.'

'And you really want us to be the cause of that?'

'Does it matter as long as the war doesn't break us apart?'

'I sometimes feel like Romeo and Juliet.'

'Who are they?' I laughed and kissed Draco on the cheek, cuddling up against his strong body.

'Go to sleep, Draco.' I fell asleep quickly, with Draco's arms around me protectively. I woke up on Sunday morning, still in Draco's bed. I sat up and there was a note where Draco was meant to be:

_Hermione,_

_I had to go to Quidditch practice, but I didn't want to wake you: you looked beautiful sleeping. I'll see you tonight._

_Draco x_

I smiled and led back down on his bed, clasping the letter to my chest and breathing in his scent from everywhere in the room. How did I manage eighteen years of my life without Draco next to me at night? Or during the day for that matter. It just felt so right. I heard the portrait door open and two people entered. They walked up the opposite set of stairs and knocked on my bedroom door. 'Hermione?' Harry called out for me.

'I'm in here.' Harry and the other person, presumably Ginny, ran down the stairs and up the other set.

'Why are you in Draco's bed?'

'I couldn't sleep last night.'

'When did you start sleeping together?'

'Shut up, Harry. You're acting like we're friends with benefits. How are Ron and Lavender?'

'Ron worked out last night that we knew about your relationship with Draco, so he won't talk to us, and Lavender just won't speak at all. And you might want to see this.' Ginny passed me today's issue of the Daily Prophet, and the front page headline was Krum's trial. The picture underneath was after the trial had finished, just before we all climbed into the telephone box to get back to London. I scanned the story, and saw my name, Draco's and Krum's more times than they should be there. I sighed and put the paper down on the bed, not wanting to read what the reporter had written about me.

'How many people got the Daily Prophet this morning?'

'Everyone, pretty much.' I swung my legs onto the floor, took the note Draco had left me and began to leave his bedroom.

'I'm going to go to the library after I've got dressed.'

'Aren't you going to show Draco the Daily Prophet?'

'He has Quidditch practice. Besides, I'm sure someone else will have done it by now.'

'But they're all afraid of him. They won't want to be the ones to tell him.' I chewed my lip and decided to get dressed and go and wait in the Slytherin changing room, but not before asking Harry if I could borrow his invisibility cloak.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and my reviewers **VAMPIRESEX, MCannon5887, Devilish Dream **and** judy12 **(Me and my beta have written something intimate for a little later on, especially for you. It'll probably be chapter 19 or 20).

CHAPTER 17-

I came out of the shower after a long Quidditch practice with a towel wrapped around my waist and began to put my Quidditch robes in the wash basket. Everyone had already left the changing rooms: they had all seemed scared of me this practice. I had asked Blaise what was up with them, and he just told me to talk to Hermione first.

I sighed and walked back to where my jeans, t-shirt and jacket were on the bench and was about to take my towel off when I heard a sound from behind me. 'Draco!' I turned and jumped back in shock as Hermione was stood in the Slytherin boys changing room, holding Harry's invisibility cloak as well as the Daily Prophet.

'Hermione! What the hell are you doing in here?!' I looked around quickly to make sure no one was in here still, but then the door to the changing rooms opened.

'Draco?' Theo was here.

'Put that back on!' I whispered. Hermione put the invisibility cloak back on just as Theo rounded the corner. 'Hey, Theo.'

'Hi, Draco. I forgot to ask you, when's the next match?'

'Errm… next Saturday is Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and then we'll be playing the winner of that match the next Saturday.' Theo nodded and smiled.

'Thanks, mate. I couldn't help but hearing, but were you talking to yourself?'

'What? No! I was… practicing the presentation I have to do on Ancient Runes next week.' I nodded slowly, making sure in my head that Theo didn't take that lesson.

'Can't say I like that subject very much. I'm glad I dropped it. I'll see you later.' I smiled and nodded at him and he left, but I didn't breathe out until I heard the door click properly.

I turned around to find no one stood there anymore. 'Hermione? Hermione, where are you?' Something poked me in the back and I spun around again. 'Don't do that.' Hermione took the invisibility cloak off and grinned. 'Do you know how dangerous this is?'

'I know, I'm sorry.'

'And I was about to take my towel off too.'

'Why would you be bothered about that? I'm sure the rest of the girls have seen you in much less.' I blushed slightly and sat down on the bench.

'What is it?'

'This.' Hermione handed me the Daily Prophet and I saw my name flash up several times on the front page, often in the same sentence as Hermione's. I put the newspaper down beside me and let my head fall into my hands. 'What will your father say?'

'A lot.' My mind went back to yesterday, stood in a private room in the Ministry. He was shouting at me, asking why I was friends with "Mudblood Granger". 'He already suspects something is different.' Hermione sat down beside me.

'What are we going to do?'

'I don't know. I honestly don't know.'

A few days later, I was coming back from a death eater meeting. I had been down in the dungeons when me and Snape apparated, and when we came back after hearing of how Voldemort wanted Blaise and Pansy's parents to convince their children to join him so he would have more spies in Hogwarts, I went straight up to the Head's common room. Hermione was sat in my arm chair asleep when I entered. I smiled and picked her up, to carry her to my room, as she rarely even entered her own bedroom now. She showered in my bathroom, and her favourite books were on my bookshelf. Her school robes and cloak hung on the back of the door next to mine, and several of her favourite garments of clothes were scattered on the floor: she only went in her room to play with Crookshanks or if one of her friends was over, as to not give them the wrong impression.

I looked down at Hermione. Her eyelids hid the golden brown jewels underneath them, strands of hair escaping from her messy ponytail and framing her face beautifully. I was so distracted that I tripped over the top step, making me fall over; me landing on the steps, Hermione on the small landing beside the door.

'Hmmm…?' Hermione woke up and looked around her.

'Sorry for waking you. I was taking you upstairs and I tripped over.'

'How come?'

'Because you're fat.' I grinned as I said it, meaning it as a joke, but she took it the wrong way.

'Thanks, Malfoy.' Hermione got up and locked herself in my bedroom.

'Hermione!' I banged on the door several times. 'Please! You know I didn't mean it! I was just joking.' Still nothing. I took my wand out of my pocket and pointed it at the lock. 'Alohamora.' I sighed, realising that Hermione would have put a strong spell on the door. I sat down with my back against the door for half an hour, wishing she would forgive me. After trying numerous spells on the lock, I gave up and went down to the Slytherin common room.

Blaise and Pansy were cuddled up on the settee and I sat opposite them in the armchair. 'What's up, mate?' Blaise noticing the despair etched on my face. I shrugged.

'Not much. Apart from the fact Voldemort wants you and Pansy as Death Eaters.' Pansy sighed and Blaise's grip on her shoulders tightened.

'It would happen eventually.' Pansy shrugged off the thought and looked at me strangely. 'I thought tonight was Hermione night?'

'It is, but I accidentally called her fat.'

'Draco, I'm not an expert, but whether you're joking or not, you never call a girl fat. Right, Pansy?'

'Yep. Have you apologised?'

'Dozens of times, but she's locked herself in my room, so I can't even get my broom to use the balcony to talk to her.'

'I'll go and sort it. Come on, you two.' Pansy took mine and Blaise's hands and she dragged us to the Head's common room. 'Wait down here.' Me and Blaise sat in the two arm chairs and Pansy knocked on my bedroom door. 'Hermione? It's me, Pansy. Can I come in?'

'Is Malfoy there?'

'No. It's just me. Please?' I looked up as Hermione quickly unlocked the door and dragged Pansy in, locking it once more. Half an hour passed by before the door opened again. Pansy appeared at the top of the stairs and walked down with a solemn look on her face. I looked at her pleadingly and she smiled. 'She's waiting for you. But joking or not, never do this again.'

'Thank you, Pansy!' I hugged her and ran up the stairs to my bedroom. Hermione was sat on my bed, but didn't look at me. 'I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to call you fat. I actually dropped you because… because I was distracted by how beautiful you looked.' Hermione stopped staring at the wall and turned to look at me.

She nodded. 'Really?'

'Yes.' She nodded slowly and took her pyjamas from my bed.

'I'm going to get ready for bed.' She went in the bathroom and locked the door, and whilst she was in there I got ready too. I was feeding Sphinx when she came out. I watched her carefully as she climbed into the bed, facing the space where I slept. 'Are you sleeping tonight? It's late.' I put down Sphinx's food and climbed in next to her, but I didn't touch her. 'How was the meeting?'

'Voldemort wants Blaise and Pansy to become death eaters too. He wants more spies in Hogwarts, but it's not like we tell him anything that is true.' Hermione smiled at me and stroked my cheek with her slender fingers. 'You do know I was joking when I called you fat, right?'

'I do now. It's just… I've never felt wanted before by someone other than family and friends. I just got worried that I wasn't right for you.' I put my arms around Hermione and hugged her, breathing in her strawberry shampoo.

'Don't ever think that. You're perfect to me. It doesn't matter to me that you're a Gryffindor or a muggle born, or that you don't wear make-up, or that you've never really had a boyfriend before, or that you're the cleverest witch of our generation, or that you've read every book in the library or that you're part of the Golden Trio. You are perfect, and don't let anyone tell you any different.'

Hermione pulled out of my hug and rested her forehead against mine. 'Do you really mean that?'

'With all of my heart.' Hermione's eyes glistened with tears as she kissed me. 'I don't think I could imagine my life without you now that you're here with me. I am the luckiest person alive.' And I meant it.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and my reviewers **Aliceniamhxx, aprilthirteen13 **(I've put in a little snippet of the Daily Prophet for you)**, Devilish Dream, Ob33yTiT,I, charlieboo16103189 **(Read this chapter, I put it in especially for you)**, VAMPIRESEX **and **judy12 **(Intimate moment is the next chapter)! And I've finished my exams, so depending on how much college work me and my beta get, updates should be more frequent.

CHAPTER 18-

Me and Hermione began the trek down to the Quidditch pitch in the freezing wind with the majority of the school, all of us in anticipation of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. For once, I wasn't playing, and could sit happily in the stands, cheering on my girlfriend's friends, as well as sitting next to her. I looked over at Hermione's smiling face, and when her winter cloak moved, I saw a glimpse of green, as she was wearing my Slytherin jumper once more. Underneath my own cloak, I was wearing a Gryffindor jumper Hermione had bought for me, since my desire to be any house but Slytherin had considerably increased.

Pansy and Blaise were walking in front of us, and some of Hermione's other friends were walking behind us, as to not arouse suspicion in the other students. Lavender was one of those students. She wasn't fully sure what she saw after the trial in the Heads common room, and Ron's coldness to everyone including her hadn't made her any wiser about what was going on, but she was definitely getting suspicious, and both me and Hermione knew it wouldn't be long before she mentioned it to Pavarti, or another gossip Queen of Hogwarts.

'Are you okay? You look like you're in deep thought.' I looked over at Hermione and smiled.

'I'm fine.' Hermione's gloved hand brushed up against my leg, and I so wanted to grab hold of it and never let go. Somehow, I managed to resist the temptation and made it to the head stand with Hermione before I'd jumped on her there and then.

'How are Harry and Ginny?'

'Nervous, but excited. Ron… isn't showing much emotion.' Hermione pursed her lips and looked down disheartened.

'Hey. This is meant to be a happy day.' I took her gloved hand in my bare one and rested the other on her cheek, watching her shiver and laugh quietly.

'Do you need reminding, Mr Malfoy?' Snape's drawling voice entered my thoughts and I quickly let go of Hermione and turned to face him.

'Sorry, Professor. I won't let it happen again in public.'

'The Dark Lord is looking for any excuse to start this war. Don't let you and Miss Granger be that excuse.' I nodded and turned back to Hermione.

'I'm sorry.' Hermione shrugged and smiled.

'It's okay. Someone might have seen otherwise.' We carried on talking until all of the stands filled up and Madame Hooch stepped into the middle of the Quidditch pitch with the balls needed for the game. The doors opened, and the two teams flew out onto the pitch, and I immediately spotted the red headed girl and the boy-who-just-won't-die on their brooms, who I now called friends. I looked over at the goal rings and saw Ron hovering in front of them. He smiled down at Lavender then looked over at the Head's stand and gave me evils. 'Ignore him, Draco.'

'Easier said than done.' Madame Hooch spoke to the players and threw the quaffle up in the air with a cheer from the crowd. The game started, Ginny almost getting knocked out by a bludger within the first 20 minutes.

'Do I suspect foul play from Ravenclaw? I doubt it. Potter's sitting quietly on his broom, eagle eyes open. The snitch must be hiding.' I looked eagerly around the pitch and saw it by the base of the Hufflepuff stand, flitting about crazily like it usually did. I began to fidget and Hermione stared at me.

'What's wrong?'

'I can see the snitch.' Hermione followed my eye line and grinned.

'Don't say anything. Harry loves it when he spots it.' I couldn't stop fidgeting, and the commentator who was sat next to me wacked me lightly, then apologised after he remembered who he was sat next to.

'Will I get my prefect status taken off me?'

'Maybe.' Hermione smacked me on the leg and I glared at her. 'No. Just carry on commentating.' I turned to look at her watching the players on the pitch. 'What was that for?'

'It was mean.'

'I've got to keep my image up, Hermione.' I looked back at the snitch to find it was still dancing around and neither of the two seekers had spotted it yet. I glanced over at the score the commentator was keeping to find that it was 70 to Gryffindor, 50 to Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw seeker began to edge his way towards the Hufflepuff stand where the snitch was, and I was almost jumping out my seat.

'Has Chang spotted the snitch? Potter seems cluel-'

Before I knew what I was doing, I had snatched the microphone off the commentator and faced Harry. 'It's by the foot of the Hufflepuff stand, you idiot!' I threw the microphone back at the commentator and sat back down. The whole of Hogwarts turned to look at me, with the bludgers and snitch motionless, Ginny holding the quaffle. No one started moving again until Cho saw Harry edging his way towards the Hufflepuff stand. The game snapped back into action and everyone was cheering whilst the two teams began zooming around the pitch once more, Harry and Cho hot on the tail of the snitch.

'Do you realise what you've just done, Draco? The entire of Hogwarts just heard you say that. And Crabbe and Goyle are staring.' I looked down at the Slytherin stand and nodded at them in my mean way.

'Didn't think that one through, did I?'

'No.' I turned to look at Hermione's worried face.

'I'll have to go and see them, sorry.'

'It's okay. I'll see you in the common room later.' I nodded, got up, left the Head's stand and went to the Slytherin dungeons, waiting for the house to return after the Quidditch match had ended.

I began to read the Daily Prophet as I sat and waited on the settee opposite the fire, reading more of Rita Skeeter's latest scandalous reports that probably weren't even true, spotting a smaller version of the article about me and Hermione: "At the trial of Mr Viktor Krum, we finally found out why he hadn't been in any recent Quidditch matches: he was in prison awaiting trial for the attempted rape of Miss Hermione Granger. Surely, Miss Granger would know that Mr Krum wouldn't be convicted? Obviously not, but she seems to think if she had Mr Draco Malfoy defending her, she must be right. Are the two young students at Hogwarts in league together? We'll find out more as the story unfolds. _Rita Skeeter._" I threw paper down onto the centre table angrily and looked up as the portrait door opened. I expected the whole of my house to stumble in, but it was just Astoria stood in front of the door.

'Hey, Draco.' She smiled sickeningly at me and positioned herself on the table in front of me. 'What happened at your father's party? You weren't there for the speech he made. He told me afterwards you were supposed to be engaged to Pansy.' Astoria snarled and I stood up. 'Get a new girlfriend, or did you realise what you were missing?' Astoria leaned back on her hands and pouted.

'Why do you care?' She shrugged and I yanked her left wrist towards me and rolled up the sleeve of her Slytherin jumper. 'The Dark Mark.' I dropped her wrist and she shot me evils. 'I've already told my father I spent the night at the Leaky Cauldron, and if he wants to know the reason why I left, it was because I don't believe I could complete my destiny as a death eater with a wife until Harry Potter is dead and gone.' I hurt me to say those words, but Astoria happily left the common room, most likely to go to the owlery to send word to my dad.

I was about to leave too, but then the rest of my house came in. 'Who won?'

'Gryffindor.' A first year groaned at me, but looked up at who he was speaking to, then took a step back. 'I mean, Gryffindor won, Head Boy Malfoy.' His grey eyes shone at me and I smiled.

'Why would you mind if Gryffindor won?'

'They are not as pure as us.' I felt my eyes darken for a second, but then I smirked.

'They're braver than most people. Will you do me favour?' The eleven-year-old nodded eagerly and I whispered in his ear. 'I'll give you thirty sickles a month if you and your first year friends can be friends with Gryffindors.' I pulled away and the boy nodded and grinned, and left to find his friends.

'Draco!' I turned to Crabbe and Goyle and I pulled my Malfoy smirk.

'What can I do for you, lads?' They jerked their heads towards my old dormitory and they followed me up the stone stairs. Crabbe and Goyle sat on Blaise's bed and I sat opposite them on my old one, lent against the wall. 'What is it?'

'Potter.'

'I know. Juggling girls and being a death eater is hard, and now I have to promote inter-house unity now that I'm head boy. Something like that won't happen again. It was just to keep Her- Granger happy. I do have to live with that mudblood, after all.' They nodded whilst grunting. 'Was there anything else?'

'Valentine's day.'

'Hogsmeade.'

'What? You want me to go to Hogsmeade with you on Valentine's Day?' They nodded and grunted again. 'Why?'

'Pranks.'

'Do I have to? I was planning on…' Spending the day with Hermione? 'asking a girl out.'

'Yes.' I sighed and smirked.

'Alright. I'll see you on Valentine's day then.' I got up and left, thinking how I would explain to Hermione how I couldn't spend Valentine's day with her. I didn't realise how much thought I was in until I almost walked into the Al's portrait.

"Watch it there, Draco! Are you okay?"

'Yeah. How are things with Professor McGonagall?'

Al grinned. "Just wait until Valentine's Day. Just wait."

'Is Hermione in there?'

"Yep. Password?"

'Crookinx.' I stepped into the common room and Hermione was sat in her armchair, and she looked up and smiled at me.

'Come on. I've been waiting ages.' She took hold of my hand and led me out of the common room once more and began to run down the steps with me in tow, making sure no students were out of bed after hours.

'What? Where are we going?'

'Kitchens. I thought you might want a hot chocolate or something. It was freezing today.'

'You're too cute.'

'I know.' Hermione turned and stuck her tongue out at me and carried on dragging me through the castle.

'Where are the kitchens anyway?'

'Wait and see.' We eventually arrived at the staircase leading down to the Hufflepuff basement and Hermione ran up to a large portrait and tickled the pear painted on it. The portrait opened and at least a thousand house elves were running around preparing food in a kitchen the size of the great hall. 'Do you know where Minty is?' An old looking elf by the door pointed towards the back of the room and we walked through the crowd. Did house elves really work this hard? I respected them more than my father did, but I didn't really know what they did until now. 'Hey, Minty.'

A small house elf looked up from a stove and smiled at Hermione. Her eyes were hazel, and they wouldn't stop blinking.

'Is there anything I can get for you, Miss Granger?'

'Can I have a hot chocolate and a piece of cake please?'

'And your friend?'

'I'll have a cup of tea and an apple, thanks.' Minty smiled and she led us to the back of the room where she sat us down at a table before running off to get the drinks. 'How often have you been coming here?'

'I sometimes sneak out in the middle of the night.'

'Oh, I wondered why I sometimes found cups in my bedroom.' She laughed and Minty came back with a tray laden with our desired goods. I bit into the apple and after a few more bites, I found Hermione staring at me. 'What?' She giggled and sipped at her drink. I shook my head and we carried on until I felt something tug at the sleeve of my jumper. I looked down at the bench to find Dobby staring up at me innocently. 'Dobby! How have you been?'

'Dobby has been much better thank you, Master Malfoy.'

'Draco will do. You're free now.'

'Wait, you're friends with Dobby?' I nodded and Hermione looked confused.

'What?'

'I thought you hated house elves?'

'I only pretend to, for my father. I'm friends with all of the elves at the Manor. Dobby's my favourite though.' I smiled and lifted Dobby up onto the table and we chatted, Hermione still sat in disbelief.

'Why is Draco now friends with Miss Granger?'

'We're head boy and girl now. And she's my girlfriend.' Dobby grinned and danced around the table.

'Draco is happy! Miss Granger is beautiful and kind and clever and friend of Harry Potter's!' Dobby hugged me then Hermione.

'You can't tell anyone though, it's a secret.'

'Dobby will tell no one, don't worry, Miss Granger.' He smiled and scampered off and Hermione laughed.

'What did Crabbe and Goyle want?' I sighed and took Hermione's hand.

'They want me to go to Hogsmeade with them to play pranks on people.' Hermione narrowed her eyes. 'Next Saturday.'

'Valentine's day…' I felt Hermione's hand relax in mine as she became sad, but I only gripped her hand harder.

'I'm sorry, I had to agree or they would get suspicious. We have the whole night together.'

'You have something planned?' Hermione's face brightened.

'Maybe.' I stuck my tongue out at her and we went back up to the head's common room to get some sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: **A massive thanks to my beta **DarkeFairie** who helped me write the intimate part, as although I can write fluff, never having a boyfriend before made this difficult. Thanks to my reviewers **Devilish Dream, aasharpiepen, Booknerdxx **(Sort of, read this chapter to find your answer)**,VAMPIRESEX **and **0nel0vexo**! I was going to post this closer to Valentine's Day, but couldn't wait any longer.

CHAPTER 19-

I woke up at half ten in the morning, wondering how I could have got up so late. I turned to Draco's clock on the bedside table to find he'd set the alarm for that time. I laughed and climbed into his shower, hoping everything was okay with him in Hogsmeade. I got out after half an hour, magically dried my hair, dressed and went down into the common room to find a pink rose, a note, and Hogwarts: A History on the love seat. I picked up the note and read Draco's neat yet loopy handwriting:

_Hermione,_

_I'm sorry Crabbe and Goyle are making me go with them today: I wish I didn't have to, but I don't want my father to get suspicious. I've got something special planned for tonight, but in the meantime, why don't you read your favourite book?_

_Draco x_

I laughed at how sweet Draco was acting and opened up _Hogwarts: A History _and a note fell out. 'M10, pg394, JKR? What's that supposed to mean?' I played with the rose, noticing Draco had plucked out all of the thorns. I stroked the spine of my book subconsciously, and that's when it clicked. 'The library!' I ran out of the common room and up to the library on the third floor; several of the students who hadn't gone to Hogsmeade wondering why their head girl was running around Hogwarts. The M meant the section in library, then shelf 10, and then I was to find the book written by someone called JKR and turn to page 394. I skidded to a halt out of breath at the entrance to the library, composed myself and walked to section M, the part of library where the muggle books were. I counted to shelf 10, right in my eye line and turned my head on its side to find the book by JKR. I found it within a few seconds: it was book about a young boy's life at a boarding school. I flipped to page 394 and another note slipped out: _Top floor, Sphinx._

I sat on the floor, twiddling the rose and note between my fingers. Sphinx was Draco's owl, but I hadn't seen her when I woke up this morning on her perch. So, if she wasn't in his bedroom, she would either be delivering something or… she'd be in the owlery! On the top floor! I stood up quickly and ran out of the library, hoping Madame Pince hadn't seen me. I went outside into the cool February air and went past the stone circle into the owlery. I headed up to the top floor to find Sphinx sat on a perch, sort of smiling at me.

'Hey, Sphinx.' She cooed at me and stuck her left leg out slightly, a piece of parchment attached to it. I unravelled it and stroked her feathers and I read it. 'Gold cup, 1984, Hufflepuff.' I thought for a moment before running off to the trophy room at the back of the Great Hall to find a golden cup which Hufflepuff won in 1984. I found it almost instantly, locked behind a glass cabinet. I looked at the note stuck to the glass casing: _Pumpkins._ Pumpkins? I went to the Herbology greenhouse, but there were none there. I thought for a moment; placing the rose behind my ear. They would grow pumpkins in the school, but where?

Hagrid's!

I ran outside and down the steep hill to Hagrid's hut, seeing at least 12 large pumpkins growing in the little garden he had. I searched around them all and found a bunch of pink roses and a note behind the furthest one away.

_Happy Valentine's Day! I hope this kept you occupied. At dinner, eat as to not look suspicious, but don't eat a lot: it'll all make sense tonight! Meet you in our room at 9:30. DM xxxxx_

I smiled with glee and folded up the note and put it in my pocket, along with the others, telling myself I'd put them in my special memory box under my bed when I got back. I headed back up to the castle and put water in a vase I'd found in a cupboard in my old bedroom, left them on our bedside table with the roses inside. I climbed back into the bed me and Draco now shared and did my homework, hoping for 9:30 to arrive quickly.

Dinner began at 6:30, and Draco hadn't been back up to our dormitory yet, and I hoped Crabbe and Goyle had just made him stay down in the Slytherin dungeons until dinner and nothing bad had happened to him. I walked in a saw him sat in between Blaise and Theo, facing my usual spot on the Gryffindor table. I couldn't help smiling, finding it a challenge not to smile directly at him. All of the couples were sat close together, feeding each other food and kissing occasionally; but for once, I didn't care, as I was going to spend all night with the man I loved. I ate the best bits of my meal, leaving early to have a shower ready for whatever Draco had planned for us tonight. He glanced at me as I left, and I couldn't help but grin, even though I was staring at nothing or no one in particular.

At 9:25, I was sat on Draco's bed, wearing a floaty white sleeveless blouse, a pair of comfy jeans and ballet pumps, and I had coloured one of the roses that he had given me blue, and put it in my hair. I let the golden necklace of a serpent hang free around my neck now that no one would see but me and Draco. I smiled and began to hum as the portrait door opened and closed. Draco came up a few seconds later, looking immaculate in a black t-shirt and jeans as he opened the door. I smiled at him and his mouth formed a little 'o' shape.

'You look beautiful.' I blushed and looked at the floor, making him come over and wrap his hands around my waist, kissing me deeply. 'It's true, so don't be embarrassed by it.' He took my hand and led me out onto his balcony, where his broom was hovering at a low level.

'Draco, I…'

'I know you hate brooms and flying, but you're with me. I won't let anything happen to you.' I nodded and he climbed on first, then I sat in front of him. 'Put your hands on the handle.' I did as he said, trying not to be nervous. I shivered and Draco cast a spell, making me warm. He shuffled up and pressed himself into my back, putting his hands on top of mine. 'If you feel scared at any time, just tell me. Are you ready?' I nodded and he took off slowly, and I instantly shut my eyes. 'Open your eyes, Hermione. It looks beautiful.' I made a weird sound telling him I didn't want to and he kissed my neck, making me giggle and open my eyes. I gasped at the beautiful view of Hogwarts at night time: it was truly enchanting with lights flickering on and off, the courtyards lit up. 'I told you it did.' I giggled again and he kissed my neck once more, making me relax and lean back further into him. I was so preoccupied with the views, I barely noticed that Draco was descending into the middle of Quidditch pitch.

We both dismounted and he made me close my eyes as he took my hand and pulled me gently along with him. 'Open.' I opened my eyes to find that under the Gryffindor stand, Draco had set up a picnic blanket with a basket on it. I looked at him and he laughed. 'No need to look so suspicious. Go and look.' I let go of his hand and knelt down on the blanket and opened up the picnic basket to find a ton of muggle food: I couldn't stop smiling. 'Do you like it?'

'Like it? I love it! Thank you, Draco! But how did you get it all? And how did you know what to get?' He sat down on the blanket opposite me and began to explain.

'I told Professor Burbage, your muggle studies professor, that you had recently been feeling homesick, and since I had to live with you, was there anyway she could think of to make you feel better. She went and found one of your essays about muggle food and wrote a list of your favourite things down, and told me I could go and ask one of the house elves in the kitchens to get it for me.' I kissed him, then began to get things out of the basket.

'Thank you.' We ate everything from peanut butter and jam sandwiches to cheese and onion on sticks.

'After the war, I am seriously considering living in the muggle world.' I looked at Draco strangely. 'They have the best food! I mean, this crunchy thing,' He held up a pringle in awe, 'we don't have these here. What is it anyway?'

'It's a crisp.' He looked at me, bewildered, but we carried on eating until we were full. We put the rubbish back in the basket and Draco kissed me.

'Happy Valentine's day. Did you enjoy your little treasure hunt?'

'Definitely.' We both smiled and Draco led down.

'Come and look at the stars. They're almost as beautiful as you.' I blushed and led next to Draco on the picnic blanket, our fingers interlocked but otherwise not touching. I don't know how long we lay there, not speaking or moving. I could hear the sound of Draco breathing beside me, but I didn't turn to look at him, just stared at the stars, not wanting to disturb the perfection of the moment. Suddenly, a bright light shot across the sky, and I let out an involuntary gasp.

'A shooting star.' Draco whispered, 'Make a wish, Hermione.' I closed my eyes, and thought for a moment.

'I wish for a happy ending.'

'You're not supposed to tell anyone.' I turned to see a small smile on Draco's face.

'What did you wish for?' I immediately wished I hadn't asked. 'I mean, you don't have to…' I stopped as Draco's finger rested silently on my lips.

'You.' He whispered, and suddenly it wasn't his finger on my mouth any more but his lips. This time was different though. He wasn't the soft and careful Draco I'd become used to, this time there was passion, a want, an urgency to his kisses, like he needed this. Before I knew what I was doing I was kissing him back with the same ferocity, my hands were in his hair and I was pulling him even further towards me. He didn't hesitate, pulling me on top of him and running his hands along my skin. He kissed my cheek, my neck; while his hands reached under my blouse and ran over my back. Part of me questioned what I was doing, but I pushed the doubts away. I trusted Draco, loved him even; not that I'd tell him that, and for once I wanted to be able to let go, not to have to be the serious one. I held my body flush against his, and felt him do the same. I pushed one hand down the back of his shirt, feeling the warmth of his skin, while the other gripped his hair. He gently laid me down, and suddenly he was on top of me, kissing me frantically, and his slender fingers began to slowly unbutton my blouse.

I opened my eyes, desperate to see if Draco's face was showing the same desire for me that I was feeling for him. I caught a glimpse of his silver eyes, his blond hair, but all of a sudden it wasn't Draco undressing me anymore. It was Krum, sneering with a sick smile, his strong arms pinning me down. With a scream and strength I didn't know I had, I pushed Krum- Draco -off me and threw myself to the other side of the picnic blanket. I sat curled up in a ball, not quite knowing what had happened and unable to make the shaking subside.

'Hermione?' It was Draco's voice, not Krum's that warily spoke my name. Hardly daring to look, I lifted my head. Draco's silver eyes stared back at me.

'Draco… I'm so sorry…' I let out a large sob. He cautiously reached out for me. Unwillingly, I flinched. A look of pain flashed in his eyes and I hated myself even more. I forced myself to shuffle towards him and lean against him. Slowly, he put his arms around me again, and I made myself keep still. 'Draco…' I didn't know what to say.

'Shhhh, it's okay.' I looked at him, surprised. 'You thought of Krum, didn't you?' Hearing him say it out loud, so matter of fact, made me burst into tears. 'I'm sorry, it's my fault. I should have realised, so soon after…'

'No Draco! None of this is your fault.' He looked as if he was going to say something else, but I managed to hold back my tears and carry on. 'I want to be able to do… things like this, with you. But, it just made me think about Krum, and…' I tried to continue but I was choked by tears.

'I understand. And I want you to know, I'm not going to leave you just because we don't do these things. I'll wait as long as you need.' As I looked into Draco's eyes, I knew he meant it completely and utterly, and I knew I never wanted to let him go.

**A/N: **Happy Valentine's Day everyone! (You are the only people who I will say this to :P )


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: **This chapter is quite short, but is vital for the plot line, so just go with it! Thank you to my beta** DarkeFairie** and my reviewers **VAMPIRESEX, write-to-be-me, Devilish Dream **(Nice twist about Krum)**, hollynymph **and **ashildare**!

CHAPTER 20-

'You don't need to keep on apologising.' Every morning since Valentine's Day, Draco had woken up half an hour before our alarm went off, had a shower, got dressed and went to go and pick some flowers from by the lake for me. He would sit and watch me my sleep and give me the flowers when I woke up and kiss me. Then Draco would wait until I had a shower and got dressed, and he would walk down to breakfast with me, several paces apart.

'But you looked so scared. I just can't get that image out of my head.'

'Well, you need to. You have a Quidditch match today, and you don't want what happened almost a month ago clouding your gameplay. I'll get dressed.' I kissed him and went into the bathroom to change. I wanted Draco to be happy, and I knew I couldn't give him what he wanted just yet, but I knew I wanted to someday; and even though he felt guilty, he understood.

Draco was sat on the bed, still twiddling with his thumbs when I came back in. 'Are you ready to go down to breakfast?' He carried on fidgeting and I put my hand on his arm. 'Draco.' He looked at me, almost pleadingly. 'It's not your fault what Krum tried to do to me. You saved me and now you're my boyfriend. This doesn't change the way I feel about you.' I pulled me down onto his knee and hugged me tightly.

'I know, I know. I'll try and forget about it.' We walked down to breakfast and I sat with Ginny.

'Is everything okay with Draco? He seems very out of it, and he's not teasing anyone at all.'

'He'll be fine. He just keeps on overthinking things too much. How are Harry and Ron?'

Ginny began to grin. 'They're so excited! The Quidditch final's today.'

'Yeah, but where are they?'

She shrugged. 'They said something about going to see Hagrid before the match started. What are you going to do though?' I looked at the red-headed girl strangely. 'If Gryffindor win, then Draco will be sad, but if Slytherin win, me and the boys will be sad.'

'Let's just hope that whoever loses is mature enough to get over it then.'

I walked down to the Quidditch pitch with Luna later that day. Since most of my friends were playing, I invited her to sit with me in the Head's stand. 'Are you looking forward to the game?' I smiled at Luna.

'Definitely.'

'How are they all?'

'Harry, Ginny and Ron are all really excited.'

'And Draco?' I opened my mouth in shock. 'The train carriage… remember?' I smiled.

'Sorry, yes. He's got a lot on his mind, but he should be fine.' The game started, and my feelings were split as Harry and Draco raced around the Quidditch pitch after the same golden ball. At least they weren't barging into each other that much, I would go as far as to say it was the cleanest match I'd ever seen played between the two houses, minus Ron trying to convince one of the beaters to aim a bludger at Draco's head.

'… Potter and Malfoy are neck and neck. It's hard to tell from this distance: it could be anybody's game. Whoever catches the snitch wins the match, and with it the Quidditch cup.' My breathing became erratic, and Luna held my hand softly as we stood watching the match in the Head's stand. I wanted both teams to win: Harry, Ron and Ginny were my best friends after all, and of course the house I had been sorted into; but I was in love with Draco, and had become good friends with Blaise and Pansy over the months that had passed since Christmas.

'I can't look, Luna.'

A few seconds passed and the crowd began cheering. 'Harry Potter has caught the snitch! Gryffindor win the Quidditch cup!' I opened my eyes and saw Harry breathlessly shaking hands with Draco, who was still smiling, despite Slytherin's loss. Draco looked over at me and he nodded happily.

'He's okay with not winning.' I smiled at Luna and left the Head's stand and began to run out onto the pitch to congratulate Harry and the rest of the team, like all of the Gryffindors were doing.

I'm not sure where Luna went. I didn't see her for a very long time after that Quidditch match.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **because she's awesome (Could you please visit her profile and check out one of her fics called **The Equestria Games **please? Only if you like the Hunger Games and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic crossovers). Thank you to my reviewers **judy12, shaymars, VAMPIRESEX **and **Devilish Dream **(If you think about, you all know where Luna is… :P)!

CHAPTER 21-

I made my way up to Gryffindor Tower to congratulate Harry. Yes, I was absolutely gutted at the result, but I wasn't angry. Not at all. I just hoped that Hermione was okay. I watched her run out onto the pitch and hug Harry at the end of the match, and a pang of jealousy shot through me: Hermione could never do that with me, not out in public anyway. I shook my head and smiled, and carried on walking up to the seventh floor where the entrance to the common room was. 'Willow leaves.' The fat lady smiled at me and the portrait door opened.

The after-party was in full swing: fire whiskey and butter beer were flowing down the lions' throats and an upbeat Weird Sisters track was booming loudly, but silence fell upon the party as soon as the Gryffindors saw me, hatred in their eyes. Harry stepped forward, and he was trying hard not to smile at me.

'Congratulations, Potter.'

'Thanks, Malfoy.' I held my hand out and he shook it, the party starting up again. I stepped closer to Harry.

'Where's Hermione?'

'She's in her old bedroom. Right staircase.' Harry motioned towards an opening in the wall. I smiled and went up to find Hermione reading a book on a bed minus a duvet and pillow: it must have been the bed she used to sleep on before she was Head Girl.

'You do realise there's a party going on downstairs for your best friends?' Hermione tore her eyes off the pages filled with hundreds of words, leapt up and hugged me.

'Draco! Are you okay about not winning?'

'Of course I am: I'm not an immature 13 year old anymore.' Hermione smiled and kissed me. 'Someone could see.'

'I don't care. I really wanted to run out at the end of the match and hug you too… but I couldn't.' I held Hermione's warm body close to mine for a few minutes before I reluctantly let go.

'I need to go.'

'What? Why? No one is going to come up and see us here together.'

'For a start, it already looks suspicious that I'm in Gryffindor Tower, let alone in the girl's dormitories. And Snape told me after the match there's a Death Eater meeting tonight. I need to get going.'

'What time will you be back by?' I shrugged. 'Shall I wait up for you?'

'No. Get some sleep: I'll be there when you wake up in the morning.' She nodded and I kissed her one last time and left Gryffindor Tower and went down to the dungeons to meet with Snape, Blaise and Theo, as this was only an inner-circle Death Eater meeting.

'Are you ready, Mr Malfoy?' I nodded and we went up to the Astronomy Tower, put our masks and cloaks on and apparated to Malfoy Manor.

The meeting was being held in the large drawing room in the middle of the house, where it always was held unless my mother had guests staying over, in which case, it was held in the basement under the drawing room, which was basically the Manor's dungeon facility: my father would take me there to beat me if I misbehaved, or was nice to muggle born. He murdered my sister down there, too. Everything was quiet as we made our way down the corridors towards the meeting room, but I could hear faint, dark whispers as we drew closer.

'… we shall soon know where the boy's loyalties lie.' The whole congregation of Death Eaters looked up at us as we entered and stood in our places in the circle, completing it: I stood in between my parents, with Blaise's family opposite me, and Snape stood next to Voldemort. 'Welcome, my followers. We have many things to get through tonight, so let us start.' Voldemort's slippery voice sent shivers down my spine, but I remained stoical.

He started by asking Blaise and Theo about any information they had collected about Hogwarts. Theo hadn't got much, and what Blaise delivered was entirely made-up, but Theo agreed with him, as he knew his own information wasn't sufficient. Other Death Eaters talked about various other things, and I only tuned in if they mentioned Hogwarts, Dumbledore or the Order.

'Well, we have covered everything. However, there is one item that has not been covered on the agenda: Draco, please step into the centre of the circle. I have a mission for you.' I stepped into the centre and tried not to let my hands shake. 'An informant of mine has told me that you and the mudblood Hermione Granger are close. Is this true?' Yeah, and I bet that informant was Astoria: she's for it when I get back to Hogwarts.

'My Lord, if by close you mean we share the same common room, then yes we are. But we're not friends. I only choose to promote inter-house unity as to appear normal to the students and teachers at school.'

'Then you won't mind performing a small yet necessary task for me then?'

'No, my Lord.'

'It is quite simple really. Harry Potter is the Chosen One, and Ronald Weasley is incredibly loyal to him. However, as good friends as they are, there is only one thing holding them together in the face of evil, and more importantly, me: Hermione Granger. She is the brains of the operation.'

'I agree, my Lord.'

'Your task is a simple one: You must kill Hermione Granger.'

I swear my heart stopped beating.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and my reviewers **Booknerdxx **and **judy12** (You'll kick yourself when you realise)**!**

CHAPTER 22-

We landed back on the Astronomy Tower with a soft thump. I don't know how Voldemort and the rest of the Death Eaters didn't notice the mixed look of anger and upset on my face, but I somehow managed to keep it together. 'Nice mission, Draco. I'll go and tell the others what happened tonight. I'll see you later.' Theo skipped off happily as if it was Christmas day all over again, and as soon as I could no longer hear his footsteps, I slid slowly down the wall I was lent against until I was sat on the floor, and a tear escaped down my cheek.

'Draco… I… Hermione…'

'It's okay, really.' I wiped away the tear and stood up, gripping my wand powerfully in one hand. 'I'm going to kill Astoria!' I began to run down the stairs, but Snape grabbed my arm stopping me.

'We don't know it was her. It could have been Crabbe, Goyle, Theo or any other Slytherin. And hurting another Death Eater would arouse suspicion in Voldemort.' Snape put both of his hands on my shoulders and knelt down a little so he was level with my height. 'You just need to pretend everything is normal: for both your own and Hermione's sake.' Snape may have been my Godfather, and he had always been nice to me, but he had never had a soft tone to his voice when he spoke, as he did now. 'Calm down. We're going to see Dumbledore: he'll know what to do.'

'Come on, mate.'

'So, Voldemort wants you to kill Hermione… that is a dilemma. And due to your relationship and current situation in each other's life's, you don't want to do it.'

'Professor, it wouldn't matter if I wasn't her boyfriend, or we didn't share a common room. I would still never kill her, not even for Lord Voldemort.'

We were in Dumbledore's office, Snape and Blaise stood either side of the chair that I was sat in and Dumbledore was sat behind his own desk, stroking his beard as he attempted to think up an answer to this unsolvable conundrum that faced us.

'I do believe that you are a genius, Mr Malfoy.' I looked up at him.

'Excuse me?'

'You just told me the answer. You just said didn't share a common room. The answer is obvious: get demoted from head boy. Without your status, you would only see Hermione once or twice a day, as you only have three classes together: Potions, Transfiguration and Defence against the Dark Arts. Pretending to be close to Hermione just so you could kill her without your head boy status would be highly suspicious, not to mention a whole lot harder. We must, somehow, demote you as head boy.'

'And how does he go about that? It would have to be something terrible to get him demoted, Albus.' The old Professor rose from his chair and brought a dusty old book back from the bookcase to his desk. He flipped through it, until he came to the chapter about the head boy and girl.

'Well… you either have to call the head teacher a mudblood in front of everybody, but I am a half-blood, so that would just get you detention.' He drummed his fingers on the wood as he carried on reading. 'You could always swamp one of the courtyards. That would get you demoted.'

'I'll do that then. It shouldn't be too hard.'

'Hmmm.' Dumbledore closed the book and levitated it back to its place on the shelf. 'I don't doubt you could do that, Draco. But in order to protect Hermione from Lord Voldemort, your relationship will have to end, and I don't think that you are capable of doing so without revealing to her the reason why. You will have to be put under the Imperius curse.'

'Albus!' We all looked at Snape. 'A teacher is not allowed to harm a pupil, and we are the only ones qualified to perform such a curse. Besides, do we really need to go to these lengths, just for Draco and Hermione?'

'Hermione's death will spark off the war. We are not quite ready yet. We need more time, and Draco keeping her alive will give us that.' I turned to Blaise.

'You need to put me under the Imperius curse.'

'I am NOT putting my best friend under that.'

'Do you think Pansy would do it?' He shook his head. 'I guess I'll have to find someone who hates me enough to put me under it then.'

'What about Mr Weasley?' We both turned back to face Dumbledore. 'He knows about you and Hermione now, and if I summon him to my office, I can tell him where your loyalties lie and I shall inform him of your mission. Then I'll teach him how to carry out the curse successfully under my tuition. I propose I teach Ron over the next week, then we shall carry out the plan this time next week.' I nodded and Dumbledore rose from his seat. 'Well done in the Quidditch match today. Go and get some rest: something tells me you'll need it.'

I went back down to the Slytherin dungeons with Blaise, to clear my head. The common room was empty, and the fact that neither of us were talking only made the silence even more deafening. After a few minutes, Blaise spoke.

'Mate?'

'Yeah?'

'You love her, don't you?' I contemplated my feelings about Hermione in my head for a moment. Of course I was in love with her, any guy would be mad not to: she was so special. But would I tell Blaise that though? Would he understand my feelings for a girl I hated up to only several months ago?

'Yes.'

'Then instead of putting yourselves through this, why don't you just tell her what the Dark Lord said, and you can pretend to hate each other?' I ran my fingers through my hair and stood up, walking over to the crackling fire.

'Because we'd still meet up in secret, and Astoria, Crabbe, Goyle or Theo could see. Theo's not all that bad and might not say anything, but I don't want to take that risk: it has to be over. It's the only way I can save her, well, at least for the time being.'

'You really do love her.'

'Of course I do.' I turned back around and looked Blaise in the eye. 'I know this sounds stupid, but I really did think I'd be spending the rest of my life with Hermione. Get married, have kids, live happily ever after.' I sighed. 'Not when Lord Voldemort's around.'

'You could always explain to her, after the war.'

'If the light side win, she'll probably deny any knowledge of me being a spy and have me thrown in Azkaban for breaking her heart. If the dark side win… Voldemort will kill her himself because of who she is in relation to Harry and because she's a muggleborn.' I sat back down, thinking about how unfair life is, and Blaise squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. 'I'll spend one more week with her, then next Saturday, I'll swamp the Transfiguration courtyard, get demoted as head boy and finish Hermione.'

'Will you tell her?' I raised my eyebrow at Blaise. 'That you love her?' I shook my head.

'Never.'


	23. Chapter 23

**jA/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **TheHuntress95 **(I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry!), **Booknerdxx, VAMPIRESEX, my silver ferret **and **Devilish Dream**!

CHAPTER 23-

On Friday night, not many hours before it was going to happen, I was sat in my double bed leaning on the head board. Hermione was sat on my lap leant against my bare chest reading whilst I ran my fingers through her knotted hair, combing it out for her, knowing that this would be our last ever night together.

I finished getting the knots out of her hair and she sighed happily, closed her book and leaned back further against me in a pair of leggings and my Slytherin jumper; but she had been wearing it for so long now, it may as well have been hers.

'Draco, is everything okay?'

'What do you mean?'

'You're being really nice.' She turned around and I looked at her strangely.

'And I'm not allowed to be nice to my girlfriend?'

'You wouldn't normally just sit here, comb your fingers through my hair and let me read. And you've hardly picked on anyone at all. The only people you've expressed dislike to this week is Astoria, Crabbe and Goyle.' I lifted her off me and sat at the edge of the bed. 'Is there something the matter?' She knelt down next to me on the mattress and stroked my back with her small, soft hands. I sighed at her touch, and I seriously contemplated telling Hermione everything about my mission from Voldemort that I would never complete, for the sake of her life and the wizarding world. 'Are you still feeling bad about Valentine's Day?' She had she just offered me a way out of telling her the truth.

'I guess so.' I turned to look at her and she smiled uncertainly at me.

'Just forget it, okay. I don't care, it's in the past now.'

'I know.' I had pretty much forgiven myself for what had happened on Valentine's Day, only because it didn't seem to bother Hermione anymore. But I knew it would take a whole life time for me to forgive myself for what I would do tomorrow, as I knew Hermione would never be okay with that. I lifted her back onto my knee and kissed her neck just below her ear and she moaned very quietly. 'I'm sorry for everything that I've ever done to you.'

'That's a very long list of things: calling me a mudblood, annoying my friends, bullying me… it goes on, Draco.'

'I'm sorry for that, and more.' Of course, I was talking about what would happen tomorrow.

'I forgive you.'

'Let's get some sleep.' I picked Hermione up and laid her down in her side of the bed.

'But it's only just gone eight.'

'So? I know you don't need your beauty sleep, but I definitely need mine.' Hermione laughed and whacked me lightly with her book before putting it on the bedside table.

'You are beautiful, in a very manly kind of way.' I smiled and pulled the black sheets over us. I turned to face her and she kissed me quickly, like she always did to say good night. I took her face in both of my hands and kissed her deeply, deeper then I had ever done before. I don't think Hermione cottoned on to the fact that the kiss I was giving her meant I love you without actually saying it. I pulled away when a need for oxygen became an issue, leaving Hermione laid on the bed breathless. I wrapped my arms around her warm body and pulled her close to me and she sighed happily. 'I never want this to end.' I smiled in the darkness, trying not to cry at Hermione's words.

* * *

The next morning, I got up early and set the alarm clock for much later than Hermione would get up on a Saturday. I took my clothes and wand and was about to leave the room to shower in Hermione's bathroom so there would be no chance of waking her, but I glanced back at her peaceful form. I dumped the items on the floor and made my way back to the bed. I stood there for about ten minutes, just watching her sleep, her eyes moving beneath the lids telling me that she was dreaming. I contemplated for most of the ten minutes I stood there of waking her up and telling her the plan. Then I thought about just waking her up to tell her that I loved her, or maybe just whispering it in her ear whilst she slept. Instead, I breathed in her scent for the last time, ran my fingers through her hair for the last time and kissed her lips for the last time.

I picked up my clothes and wand and washed, leaving to the empty potions room to do my homework instead of doing it in the common room or the library. It was a sunny day at the start of April, but I didn't want to go outside until this afternoon. Most people were either at Hogsmeade or at the Lake having a water fight with the Giant Squid. I pulled out my essay on herbs for Professor Sprout, and about halfway through it, Snape waltzed into his classroom.

'I know I said you could use my room anytime, but I kind of meant for Potions homework, not Herbology…' He stared at my piece of parchment like it was diseased.

'I know, but Hermione would be in the library, and the more time I spend with her, the more I want to tell her about everything. This was the only place I could think of.' He sighed impatiently.

'Fine, but you can help me sort out the store room when you're done with that essay.' I did as my Godfather asked, since I had no other homework to do.

* * *

'Professor, did you ever love someone?' We had just about finished cleaning the store room when the question suddenly blurted out of my mouth.

'Yes.' I looked up surprised. The only thing Snape appeared to love was power over students at Hogwarts. 'I believe Blaise is struggling with his essay in the greenhouses. Why don't you go and see if he needs help? We're almost done here anyway.' I nodded and left, knowing that Snape wouldn't want to talk about it.

I arrived at the greenhouse using a secret passage that Hermione had taught me how to use. 'Hey, Blaise.'

'Hi.' He was scribbling furiously on the parchment. 'Give me a minute.' I wandered around the greenhouse for at least five until he slammed his quill down on the table. 'Done!'

'Snape said you needed help.'

'That's why I came to ask Professor Sprout. It was either her or Longbottom.' We both laughed and I sat down on the stool opposite him.

'Listen, I was wondering, would you come with me to the courtyard this afternoon? I know I won't really be able to tell what's happening, but I'd feel better about it if you were there.'

'Sure. But you'll have to deal with Hermione on your own in the common room. You didn't tell her, right?' I shook my head.

'No. Let's go and have an early lunch before Hermione gets to the hall. I don't want to see her again.' Blaise nodded, knowing me well enough to understand what I meant and we left.

* * *

'Are you sure that you want me to do this?'

We were stood in Dumbledore's office: me, Blaise, Weasley, Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall. Dumbledore had told me that she was part of the Order and deserved to know. She had also levitated the swamping potion up into a tree for me, and would be the one to publicly demote me as head boy in front everyone.

'Just do it Weasley.'

'I'll be in my classroom.' McGonagall left, patting my shoulder in worry as she did, like the way my mother did just before I became a death eater. Snape fed me a potion to take away the pain that would come when the curse was cast and stuffed a tissue into the pocket of my jeans; just in case. He left silently, giving me a mournful look. I don't know what he meant. Maybe he was telling me not to do this, to go after the one I loved, regardless of its' consequences. Or maybe he was just worried that Weasley would mess up the spell and send me to St. Mungo's.

'Make sure he takes the curse off me afterwards, Blaise.' He nodded solemnly and patted my arm one last time.

'Are you sure that this is what you want, Draco?' Dumbledore was looking at me with a questioning glance.

'I don't want it, but it's necessary for the war.' I sighed. 'Besides, it would have ended sooner or later.' I lied. 'Hermione can do so much better than me.' I told the truth. 'Whenever you're ready, Weasley.'

'Imperio…'

* * *

**RON'S PERSPECTIVE:**

I let him wander down to the Transfiguration Courtyard, trying not to make him look to drunk. This was hard. How on earth did Lord Voldemort manage to do this all of the time? Zabini would sometimes guide Malfoy with his hand on his back. I don't even know what they we were talking about. Quidditch, probably. At least Malfoy wasn't resisting, or this would be harder than I expected. I made him tease some first year Hufflepuff's, and some of the older Slytherins egged him on as they all gathered around him in the centre of the courtyard.

'Oh, look what we have here.' Malfoy levitated down the potion from the rooftop by my command and set it down on the small monument at the middle of the courtyard. 'Shall I swamp the courtyard, seeing as some fool has left this lying around?' Malfoy began to slur his words.

'_Why does this curse make him sound drunk, Professor?'_

'_You just need more control over him. Take a deep breath. Now cast Incendio on the potion to swamp the courtyard.'_

The Slytherins laughed loudly, telling him to do so, not noticing that he sounded drunk. Malfoy pointed his wand at the potion. 'Incendio!' Green smoke filled the air, and when it cleared, students were screaming at the site of half-drowned trees, lily pads and frogs hopping everywhere.

'Mr Malfoy! What in Merlin's name do you think that you are doing?!' He turned to face Professor McGonagall, who was precariously making her way towards the middle of the now-swamp. Perhaps if she knew it would be this bad, she wouldn't have volunteered to help.

'Just trying to have a bit of fun, Professor!' The Slytherins laughed again and McGonagall proceeded forward until she was only a few centimetres away from Malfoy.

'Did you know that this is an offence worthy of expulsion?' He smirked at her and she ripped the shiny head boy badge from his robes. 'You are, as of now, demoted as head boy. You will be stripped of all of your privileges. Pack your things and move back to the Slytherin dungeons. Go!' The Slytherin's oooed at what he had done and Zabini walked with Malfoy back to the head's common room.

'You're on your own now.' Zabini began to walk off when I remembered that I was in control and didn't know the password.

'What's the password?'

'Crookinx.'

'What about for the dungeons?'

'Snake venom.'

'How original.' Malfoy walked up to the portrait of Dumbledore. 'Crookinx.' He smiled at Malfoy and I entered. I knew which room Hermione's was, so Malfoy's was obviously the opposite. I ran up the stairs, knowing Hermione could arrive at any moment. I looked around the room for his suitcase.

'_WHERE'S YOUR SUITCASE?'_

'_UNDER THE BED. PACK EVERYTHING. TELL SPHINX TO GO TO THE OWLERY AND LET HER OUT OF THE WINDOW.'_

What on earth was Sphinx? I left it and Malfoy took the suitcase from under the bed and chucked all of the clothes from his wardrobe and chest of drawers in there quickly. He then levitated all of his books and other things in there, but as the room became more and more empty, I noticed female clothing scattered around the room.

'_HAVE YOU AND HERMIONE BEEN SLEEPING TOGETHER?!'_

'_ONLY IN THE SAME BED. QUICK! I CAN HEAR SOMEONE TALKING TO AL!'_

'Draco?' Hermione was in the common room and Malfoy sped up the rate of his levitation. 'Are you in here, Draco?' She began to run up the staircase just as Malfoy was grabbing his toothbrush from the bathroom, throwing that in the case, too. He buckled it up just as she entered. 'Draco! People are saying that you've been demoted as…' She trailed off as she saw the suitcase on the bed and Malfoy grabbing his broom.

'You heard right.' He pulled his suitcase off the bed and hauled it past her and down the stairs. 'It's over by the way.'

'What is?' Hermione seemed breathless at the news as she ran down the stairs after him.

'Our relationship. I was only doing it to get Voldemort information about the Order.' Through Malfoy's eyes, I could see Hermione's pupils begin to glass over.

'But you were our spy!'

'Think again, Granger.' Malfoy walked closer to the portrait door, but Hermione held on tight to his arm.

'Please, Draco.' He turned to look at her, tears streaming down her face, hair and clothes rumpled. 'You don't mean this. Stay. I'll talk to Dumbledore, he'll understand: you're not Voldemort's spy, you just don't want all of this pressure on you.' She stepped closer to him and stroked the side of his face gently. 'I love you, Draco.'

'_TAKE THIS CURSE OFF ME NOW!' MALFOY BEGAN TO TRY AND RESIST THE IMPERIUS CURSE._

'_Professor! He's trying to break free!'_

'_It's nearly over, stay strong, Ron.' I could hear Dumbledore cry silently behind me as he watched the scene unfold out before him: I suppose I would have been sad too, if it had been anyone but this ferret. I couldn't believe Hermione had fallen for him._

I somehow managed to get Malfoy to shrug Hermione's hand off his cheek. 'I hate you, mudblood. I can't wait until this world is rid of the likes of you. You don't deserve to be living, let alone have magic.' He pushed Hermione away from him and she landed softly on the floor.

'Draco! Please!' She wailed after him, breaking my heart a little at the sound of Hermione's being torn in two. Malfoy left with his broom and suitcase and went down to the dungeons.

'Snake venom.' The portrait to the Slytherin common room opened and all of the Slytherin's were cheering.

'Crabbe, Goyle, take his things up to his room. Me and Draco are going to go for celebratory drink in the Room of Requirement.' Everyone cheered and Zabini steered Malfoy out of the common room. 'You can take the curse off him now. We're coming up to the office.'

It ended and I sat on the floor in exhaustion. Snape had appeared again, and gave me a potion to give me some of my strength back.

* * *

**DRACO'S PERSPECTIVE:**

As soon as the Weasel had taken the curse off me and I had regained enough to strength to walk without Blaise's help, I ran up to Dumbledore's office with my fists clenched. I knew my face was probably red. I also knew that I was probably crying; but I was too angry and upset to care right now. 'Fudge!' I shouted at the gargoyle and ran up the staircase, Blaise on my heels. 'Where is Weasley?!' Dumbeldore was stood in front of me with his wand at the ready. I took out my own and disarmed him, before walking past him and I saw the ginger crouched on the floor looking terrified. 'I'm going to kill you! Why didn't you stop? Didn't you see how upset she was?!'

Snape and Blaise restrained me and Dumbledore helped the pathetic Weasel up. 'Draco, you must remember you asked him to do this. It is in no way his fault, only Voldemort's.' He sighed as I wrestled with my best friend and Godfather. 'Go and comfort your friend: Merlin knows she needs it right now. Try and act surprised when she tells you what happened though.' Weasley nodded and left and Dumbledore came over to me, gripping me firmly by the shoulders as I tried to move out of this three-person grip. 'Draco, you must calm down before you do something that you regret. This is Voldemort's fault, not yours or Ron's: Voldemort's fault. Telling Hermione everything now would have been a waste of time on your efforts.' I stopped struggling as much and Blaise let go, Snape sitting me down in a chair.

'I want to go home. The more I'll see of her, the more I'll want to tell her: you have to send me home.'

'Of course. I'll send an owl to your parents to tell them that you've been temporarily expelled for your actions today. Severus, will you take him back to the Manor?' Snape nodded and left to go and get ready. 'Something tells me that all of the Death Eaters will be called away soon anyway, so you may as well go. However, which side will you be fighting on in the war?'

'The light side, obviously.'

'Then use a glamour spell on yourself so no one recognises you.' I nodded but stared into thin air. 'Mr Zabini, let us go and inform Miss Parkinson of tonight's events. She surely will be confused as she knew of Mr Malfoy's true feelings for Miss Granger.'

At those last words, I felt tears well up in my eyes. I heard the gargoyle close again and I broke down in the chair I was sitting on. The last time I properly cried was when Astrid died. Seeing Hermione's heart smash into a billion pieces was the exact equivalent of death.

**A/N: **Sorry if this chapter upset any of you!


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and my reviewers **Booknerdxx**, **TheHuntress95**, the person on the **Guest **account and **Mcannon5887**!

CHAPTER 24-

I sat on the floor of the common room, weeping my heart out for whoever cared to hear it. I had just confessed to Draco how I felt about him, and then he threw it back in my face by calling me the name he'd apologised for the previous night.

'Crookinx.' I heard someone outside the portrait, and I prayed to Merlin that Draco wasn't back for another stab at me. 'Hermione?' I looked up to see Ginny, looking as worried as ever. 'Oh, sweetie, what's the matter?' She sat next to me on the floor and slowly rocked me back and forth in her arms.

'It's Draco… I heard he got demoted as head boy, so I came straight up here, and he told me that he was Voldemort's spy, and that he was only with me to get information. Then I told him…' I began to hyperventilate and Ginny looked me in the eye.

'Then what happened?'

'I told him… that I loved him. He said he hated me, called me a mudblood, said I should be dead, then just left!' Ginny brought me to her warm body again in a hug as I gasped loudly from the crying.

'It's alright. Let's go to the Gryffindor common room: you'll feel better there.' Ginny was half-right. I felt better in there as I was so used to the atmosphere, the memories of staying up all night until me, Harry and Ron had sorted out how we would handle Voldemort's latest scheme. But everyone was talking about Draco, about how much nicer he seemed this year, then he went and swamped the transfiguration courtyard.

'Can we go to your room?' She nodded, understanding. We walked up the stone staircase, the same ones Draco would have climbed only about a week ago. Fresh tears began to well up in my eyes again, but I refused to let them fall in front of my entire house. Ginny opened the bedroom door to find Pavarti and Lavender sat on their beds gossiping and giggling. They looked up when they saw us.

'Have you heard, Hermione? About Malfoy?'

'Yes, she has, and if you don't mind, we'd like to have a private conversation in here.'

'This is our room, too. Besides, Hermione has a whole common to herself now that Malfoy isn't around.'

'Yeah, she does. But her best friend is the only person in here on the Quidditch team, the only one with enough strength to throw you out of the window without a wand if you don't leave by choice.' Ginny's threatening tone made them leave, and she cast Muffliato on the room in case they decided to listen at the door. 'Sit down. Take a deep breath. Now just let it all out.' I did as she said, and Ginny held me as I wept.

After about ten minutes of crying, someone quietly came into the room. We both looked up to see Harry and Ron. I tried to smile at them. Harry smiled back, and Ron looked like he might burst into tears himself.

'How are you?'

'I've been better.' Harry attempted to look reassuring as he hugged me. Ron stood by the door, scuffing his shoes into the floorboards. 'Don't do that, Ron. You know Molly would kill you if you ruined your shoes.' He looked up, smiled and came over and hugged me too.

'Glad to have you back as acting-mother. You haven't been the same whilst you've been sharing a common room with the likes of him.' I shrugged my shoulders and fell back into Ginny's cradling arms.

'I can't believe I almost had sex with that ferret.'

'You what?! But he said… I'm going to kill him!' Ron took his wand from his pocket and began to walk out of the room. I couldn't care less what Ron would do to him now, but Harry stopped him.

'Ron, Hermione needs us right now. Save it for later.' Ron reluctantly put his wand away, and the two boys came to sit down on Ginny's bed with us. We laughed and talked about old times, anything to take my mind of Draco. They must of thought I had already forgotten about him, but if he had just been my boyfriend, together for a few weeks, then maybe; but I still loved him, even though he had broken my heart.

'Let's go to dinner.' I glanced at the clock to find that it was already six o'clock.

'Yeah, come on.' Ginny helped me off the bed and I began to look around for an excuse not to go down and see Draco's smirking face, when there was a tap on the window. Ron opened it, and Phoenix flew in, a letter tied to his leg.

_Harry, Ron and Hermione,_

_I know this may not be the best time to ask this due to the events of this afternoon, but I require your presence immediately in my office. I will have your dinners sent up, and Ginny may attend the dinner as usual in the Great Hall._

_Bring Phoenix back with you._

_Albus Dumbledore_

'Let's go. We'll see you later, Gin.' She nodded and gave me one last hug.

'If they keep talking about Dra- Malfoy, just punch them.' I smiled and we left.

'Take a seat, enjoy your meal.' We looked suspiciously around Dumbledore's office, but sat down regardless and ate. Why would Dumbledore want a meeting with us that required our presence so immediately? And let us eat food in his office, for that matter. The old head master ate with us, and when we all finished he moved onto the business he wanted to discuss with us.

'As you all know, the Order have been collecting and destroying horcruxes. They've done very well and have managed to destroy the ring and the locket. The diary, as you know, has already been destroyed.There are fours horcruxes left, and the Order believes that it has exhausted all of its lines of enquiry. I was wondering if you three would like the chance to find them. You've all worked hard this year, despite the circumstances, and due to the events of today, I do believe at least one of you would like to get away from Hogwarts for a bit, just to clear your head.'

I knew Dumbledore was referring to me. And I knew I wanted to get away from Hogwarts more than anything: I didn't want to see Draco's sneering face all of the time.

'Bearing in mind, if you agree, you will leave tonight. You can leave the majority of your belongings here if you so wish, and we will keep them safe for you. You can say goodbye to your friends, but you must not tell them where you are going. Please discuss my idea amongst yourselves for a few minutes.' Dumbledore got up and looked through his bookshelf whilst we huddled together.

'What do you two think?' I looked hopefully at Harry and Ron. 'I want to go.'

'But you just want to get away from the ferret.'

'But I also want to help with the war effort. Please, guys.' Ron and Harry glanced at each other thoughtfully before we all regained our normal posture.

'Have you made your decision?' Dumbledore looked over to us and Harry nodded, and the old professor came to sit back down.

'We'll do it.'

I was stood in my bedroom in the Head's dormitory, deciding what was worth taking with me. I had enlarged my purple beaded bag and had put in a few books and clothes, but nothing I wouldn't need. I went into my bathroom, only realising that everything was in Draco's bathroom upon seeing that mine was completely empty. Just as I was about to turn and leave, the smell of his shampoo wafted towards me. When had he ever showered in here? I stepped into the shower cubicle and breathed in his scent, almost breaking down into tears once more.

'No, Hermione. Not again. You've spent nights crying over him before. Just go in his room and get your stuff.' I calmly opened the door to his room, and sent the stuff back to my room that I didn't need, putting the things I did into the bag. I began to grab the leggings I had been wearing last night when I saw the Slytherin jumper on the bed. My hand instantly went to my neck, remembering that the necklace was there. I contemplated taking it off, but knew I wasn't just ready for that. I pointed my wand at the jumper and glamoured it so Harry and Ron would see a different pattern on it, instead of a green snake. I put it in the bag and was about to leave when I heard a soft cooing in the corner of the room.

Sphinx came out from down the side of the wardrobe, a scared look beholding her soft features. 'Oh, Sphinx. Come here. Did Draco forget you?' She hoped onto my shoulder and nuzzled herself into my hair. 'He forgot me, too. I'll send you over to the owlery.' I stepped out onto the balcony, but she refused to fly away. 'Go on, Sphinx. Bite him, or something. For me.' She flew away and I retrieved Crookshanks from the common room, now that I had everything that I needed. 'Come on, Crookshanks. Ginny's going to look after you for a bit.' I left to Gryffindor Tower, to find Lavender crying melodramatically on the settee. I ignored her and went up to Harry and Ron's dormitory.

Ron was stood by the door, and he held onto my arm as I entered to stop me from going any further into the room. I saw why. At the far end of the room by the window, Harry was talking softly to Ginny. She began to protest, but he pulled her into a kiss before she could. A few tears slipped down her cheeks, but she wiped them away and came over to me and Ron.

'Be careful, you two.' She hugged us both and took Crookshanks off me, talking to him softly as she left to her own dormitory.

'What happened?'

'I ended my relationship with her. I don't want Voldemort using her against me.'

'And I finished Lavender too.' So that's why she was crying…

'Ginny took it a lot better than I expected. Lavender punched Ron.' I glanced at Ron to see a red patch over his cheek and eye, and I began to laugh.

'Let's go to the Astronomy Tower.'

Dumbledore stood on the balcony, the wind billowing through his long cloak. He turned to smile at us. 'I didn't think you'd be coming for a moment then. This is the apparation point.' The apparation point. Draco would have been here a week ago. 'I have something for each of you, and it may or may not help you find the last three horcruxes. Ron, I gave you my illuminator. Hermione, I give you my copy of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'. And for Harry, I give you the first snitch that you ever caught. And to you all, I give you the sword of Godric Gryffindor.' Dumbledore gave us each of the items and we put them into the beaded bag, where the boy's belongings were now settled beside my own.

'Thank you, Professor.' He smiled, his old blue eyes twinkling at us.

'Be on your way now. I have taken the anti-apparation spell off Hogwarts for a few minutes.'

'But Draco apparates from here. Do you take it off every time there is a Death Eater meeting?' I clapped my hand to my mouth, realising what I had just said. Ron averted his gaze to the floor and Harry shook his head in disappointment.

'Draco apparates with Professor Snape. Teachers are allowed to apparate, taking students with them.' Dumbledore smiled despite my question and beckoned us forwards onto the balcony. 'Be careful.' We joined hands and stood in a circle, and we apparated to Grimauld Place.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: **I'm probably going to be doing the next several chapters split between Hermione and Draco's perspectives, but I probably won't write who's speaking, but I think it'll be fairly obvious from what it says. It's also so the story picks up a bit of pace, instead of one chapter only doing one perspective. Thank you to my beta, **DarkeFairie** and to my reviewers **Booknerdxx**, the person on the **Guest **account, **DracoLover **and **TheHuntress95**! Just a note, I have AS Level exams coming up in college, so don't despair if I don't update a lot: I won't abandon my fic!

CHAPTER 25-

My mother and the house elves were the only ones pleased to see me home. My father wasn't too bothered, which I was surprised at: at least I got one more Malfoy prank in at Hogwarts before I got excluded. But he had seemed to have dismissed my mission without a second thought: how was I supposed to kill Hermione when I was at the Manor and she was safe in Hogwarts?

Voldemort hadn't forgotten.

'You stupid, stupid boy!' He hit me with curse after curse, two weeks after my exclusion had begun. He had called a death eater meeting, after pulling out all of the death eaters at Hogwarts, which was most of the Slytherin's in my year. I rolled around on the floor of the drawing room, and I could hear my mother whimpering for the agony I wouldn't show. I don't know how I survived his attacks, bar the one thought that was going through my mind:

Hermione, Hermione, Hermione.

I thought about saving her from Krum, kissing her forehead, seeing her in her Winter Ball dress for the first time, our first dance, our first kiss, the first night we slept together, Valentine's day and our last night together, expelling anything bad. Merlin, I even thought about Harry, Ginny and Weasley, just to remind me of her.

I don't know how long everybody watched me get tortured, but everyone eventually left, and my mother took me back to my bedroom and healed my cuts for me, just like Hermione used to do. 'I've never seen him so angry.'

'Who?'

'The Dark Lord, of course.'

'Oh.' My thoughts, of course, weren't focused on him.

'He tortured you for half an hour. I think it's a record for him.' I shrugged and my mum patted my back reassuringly. She turned to go, but I called her back.

'Mum, at the death eater meeting I was given the mission, Voldemort was saying something before me, Snape, Blaise and Theo arrived. We will soon know where the boy's loyalties lie, or something. Who was he taking about?'

My mother hesitated for a moment. 'It was about Blaise. He's your best friend, and he took Pansy from you. The Dark Lord was saying that he will arrange a marriage for you with someone else.'

'Who?'

'He hasn't decided yet. Get some sleep, Draco. I'll see you in the morning.' My mother closed my bedroom door and I threw my death eater cloak into the wash basket in frustration. I didn't want to be in Slytherin, or a death eater, or get married to someone who I didn't love.

I just wanted Hermione.

I slept, dreaming about her. We got married outdoors on a beautiful day in the summer, and both of our families were happy for our union. Harry and Ron sat on the first row with our families and I twiddled my thumbs nervously as Blaise tried to reassure me that Hermione would arrive. Music started to play and everyone stood up, and I somehow managed to stand still despite my anticipation. I turned to see Ginny and Pansy walking down the aisle as bridesmaids, but I turned back to the front, waiting for Hermione. Ginny and Pansy walked past me and I turned again, and I saw Hermione wearing a beautiful white dress. My heart stopped beating and she blushed when she saw the look of awe on my face. We both said I do and we kissed and I never wanted it to end.

But it did.

'Get up, Draco!' I cracked open an eye to see my father stood over my bed, shaking me awake by the shoulder.

'What? Why?'

'The Dark Lord wishes to speak with you.' I groaned into the pillow and he left the room. I reluctantly got up and dressed, and left to the drawing room. My mother was stood outside the closed door, and she was wringing her hands in worry.

'What's wrong?' She hugged me tightly and I felt a few of her tears drop onto my shoulder.

'At Christmas, you said there was someone. Are you with her?'

'No. Yes. It's complicated.' I sighed and my mum pulled away and held my shoulders in the palms of her hands.

'Do you love her?' I didn't even need to think about my answer.

'Yes.' My mum squeezed her eyes shut and her tears fell faster down her cheeks. 'What's wrong, mum?'

'I'm so sorry, Draco.' She dried her eyes and led me into the drawing room where Voldemort was sat with my father and Bellatrix.

'Draco, my boy.' Voldemort smiled at me and I grimaced back. How could he smile at someone who he tortured only just yesterday? 'How are you?'

'Fine, my Lord.'

'I have some good news for you: a new bride.' I faked a smile and Voldemort turned to another door leading into the drawing room. 'You may come in now.' The door opened and I almost threw up at the sight of the person that walked through the door.

Astoria.

* * *

As soon as we got to Grimmauld Place, I set about putting the wards up. Ron stayed in the kitchen with Kreacher, eating most likely, and Harry stayed in the room with the family tree on the wall, looking at Sirius' blacked out face. He spent most of his time in there actually. We had been here about a week, and I'd seen him go to the toilet and shower and occasionally get some food, but he mostly stayed in the living room.

At the end of the week, me and Ron decided it was time to try and gain some normality back. Well, Ron didn't seem to mind the change of scenery, and was kind of glad to not have chapped lips from excessive kissing. I, on the other hand, was feigning happiness. I had never been away from Draco for this long. I know he hated me all of that time, but I still loved him. I couldn't just switch my feelings on and off. I was wearing the glamoured Slytherin jumper, the design which I had changed every day. I had also glamoured the serpentine necklace so it could fall around my neck disguised as a silver star all day.

'Harry, you need to get out of this room. Staring a Sirius' picture all day isn't healthy.'

'She's right, mate. We've all had a hard time recently, but sitting in here twenty-four-seven isn't going to make you feel better. Look, Kreacher made cake. Let's go and sit in the kitchen and eat it, and Hermione can tell us about the remaining Horcruxes.' Harry looked up at us from the floor and after a few seconds of awkward silence, he eventually nodded and followed us into the kitchen.

I took them through the horcruxes that had already been found: the diary of Tom Riddle, the ring of Marvolo Gaunt and Salazar Slytherin's locket. The Order had given us a note telling us that they had managed to destroy the ring and the locket using the sword of Godric Gryffindor, which is why it was now in our possession. The diary, as we already knew, was destroyed with a basilisk fang.

Harry sat with his fingers drumming against the table for a few minutes before his head snapped up with an idea. 'Slytherin's locket was a horcrux, and Gryffindor's sword destroys them. What objects did the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw founders have?'

'Helga Hufflepuff's cup and Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.'

'Do you think they could be horcruxes?'

'I don't know, Harry. They've both been lost for many years.'

'So Voldemort will have hidden them if they were horcruxes.' I pursed my lips. 'Think about it, Hermione. It makes sense, and if I am right, we only have two more to find.' Ron glanced at me as he finished off his cake and nodded subtly.

'Okay, I'll do some research and see what I can find.'


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and my reviewers **Booknerdxx**, **TheHuntress95**, **DracoLover**, **little-lestrange **and **Devilish Dream**! And if you really are having a hard time in between chapters like some of you claim to, I'll out my twitter name on my profile so you can pester me about it: I don't mind :)

CHAPTER 26-

I steered clear of Astoria, which was quite hard. She knew her way around the Manor quite well; she even knew a few of the secret passages. After a few days, I discovered she didn't like the dungeons, so I spent the majority of my time underground. I had lived at the Manor all of my life, but I had never been down in the dungeons, so it kind of took me a while to work out why Luna Lovegood was currently residing in them along with Ollivander and a goblin from Gringotts.

It was on the seventh day of my engagement to Astoria when I happened to wander past the bars of one of the cells and hear Lovegood's dreamy voice. '… the story of the Deathly Hallows is in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I'm sure she'll have read it by now. They'll figure out what to do, Ollivander.'

'Lovegood?' I rested my hands on the bars, and she stepped into the lumos of my wand.

'Hello, Draco. It's a surprise to see you here.'

'It's a surprise to see me here? I live here.'

'Why aren't you at school?' I sighed, sat down on the grimy floor outside of the cell and began to tell Luna everything, which took me almost half an hour, and few tears that I wouldn't let Luna see. 'Do you feel better after doing that?' I nodded and sniffed. 'I hope Hermione's okay. It must have been awful for both of you.'

'It was. I just can't get that image of her out of my head of her heart breaking…' I trailed off as I thought of our last moment together.

'Well, at least you she loves you. Do you love her?' I nodded. 'Did you ever tell her?' I shook my head.

'I know I should have, the night before it happened or something, but I didn't want to say it first if she didn't love me back. I couldn't bare it if she didn't love me back. Now I don't have her at all.' My shoulders slumped and I leant against the wall, Luna crawling closer to the bars of the cell.

'But, after the war-'

'There is no after the war. Me and Hermione are over, that is the end of it. She won't love me anymore, not after why I've done to her.'

'Draco, this is Hermione we're talking about. She's very sensitive, and she can't just switch her feelings on and off as she pleases. There might be a way for her to find the love she possesses for you again.' I let my hand drop in a defeated manner to the floor and Luna reached through the bars of the cell and held it softly. 'Maybe, Draco.'

* * *

From that day forward, if I wasn't completing so-called compulsory death eater duties or being forced to spend time with Astoria, I sat in the dungeons, talking to Luna and Ollivander. After about another week, I finally asked them why they were here.

'Griphook won't say much. Ollivander's here because Voldemort wants a powerful wand.'

'And you?' Luna looked up at me wide eyed.

'I don't think I should tell you.' I narrowed my eyes at her.

'I told you my secrets, something which I've only ever done with Blaise and Hermione.' I stopped speaking and swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat as I said her name. 'You can tell me, Luna.'

She led on the floor and curled herself into a ball, and Ollivander stroked her back comfortingly. 'He said they had my dad… that they would hurt him if I didn't get information for him… but my dad's not here… and I feel worse than ever for doing what I did…'

I shook my head. 'I don't understand…'

'She's a traitor to the Light side.' I looked up as Ollivander spoke.

'Yeah,' I snorted. 'and I'm really The Chosen One.'

'I am.' Luna began to cry and I stood up hastily. I could imagine people defecting from the Dark side; I mean, I did, after all. But this was Luna Lovegood we were talking about it. The worst thing she's ever done is accidentally step on an ant. 'I wish I hadn't betrayed them, but I have.' I gripped the bars of the cell from the outside as I let the information sink in.

'There's something else too.' I looked down at Ollivander and gripped my wand and the bars even tighter. 'You need to tell him, Luna.' She sniffed, dragged her already dirty sleeve across her nose and stood up, so she could at least try to look me in the eye.

'I told Voldemort about you and Hermione.'

I stumbled backwards and almost dropped my wand. 'W-what?'

'I'm so sorry, Draco!' She tried to reach for my hand but I yanked it away from her reach and ran back upstairs, the sound of Luna's cried echoing through the darkness below. I began to walk through the house with no purpose as to where I was going, I was just walking, and happened to find myself by the front door as it opened to reveal Blaise, Pansy, Theo, Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle.

'Hey, Draco! School hasn't been the same without you.' I nodded at Theo, but my mind still felt like it had gone blank from Luna's revelation; like I was dizzy and might fall over at any given second. They all began to walk into the drawing room, but Blaise and Pansy hung back.

'What is it? What's wrong?'

'Lun… Hermio…' I shook my head and blinked a few times. 'I don't know.'

'Come on.' Blaise and Pansy took me up to my bedroom and I had to splash water on my face several times before I could begin to form coherent words. 'Now, what is it?'

'Voldemort has Luna in the dungeons here, because she's his spy… and she's the one who told him about me and Hermione.' Then something Voldemort said clicked: "Where the boy's loyalties lie…". Me. They were talking about me. If I refused to kill Hermione, he would have killed me, because he knew my loyalties lied somewhere else. 'That's why he gave me the mission.' My feelings betrayed me and a few tears slipped down my cheeks. Pansy tried to soothe me, rubbing my back, trying to get me to sit down, but I moved away and punched the bedroom wall repeatedly, Blaise casting a cushioning charm on it so I wouldn't hurt myself. After a few minutes, I cried, taking in huge gasps of air, before I fell to the floor, my forehead lent against the wall, thoroughly exhausted.

After a few minutes of silence, Pansy spoke. 'We have something important to tell you, Draco.' My ears pricked up, but I didn't move. 'It's about Hermione.' I spun around, my eyes wide. 'She's left Hogwarts. So have Harry and Ron. Dumbledore told us that they left to find horcruxes to help with the war.'

My head fell into my hands. Great, Hermione was going to get herself killed and I couldn't do anything about it.

* * *

I think Harry might have been on to something. It made sense to make the diadem and the cup into horcruxes, but we had no idea where they might be. I was sat in the kitchen reading Hogwarts: A History, to see if it gave any hint as to where they could be hidden, and the boys were in the living room practicing spells. I was halfway through a cup of tea when a small brown owl flew through the window, a letter from Remus attached to its leg.

_HP, HG and RW,_

_I'm sorry to inform you that you must leave Grimauld Place immediately. Snape has told me that You-know-who is asking for your location, and he will have to reveal it to him, as he is pretending to be their spy. The death eater meeting where this information will be revealed will take place in two days, but I suggest an immediate evacuation. I should also warn you that there is a taboo on You-know-who's name, so please be careful._

_RL._

The owl flew off as soon as I finished reading, and the boys came running into the kitchen. 'Look what we found, Hermione!' Harry handed me a sliver of a mirror, with an eye constantly moving in it. I shook my head and handed it back.

'Pack your things. We're leaving. Now.'

'What?'

'Snape's been asked to reveal our location. Do you want them to find us?' The boys ran upstairs and began to pack everything, and one of them began to shout.

'Where are we going to go?'

'I'll think of something!' I gathered all of my things from downstairs, then went up to my room and threw everything into my purple beaded bag, as the boys did when they had everything. 'Ready?' They both checked for their wands and nodded. We joined hands and apparated to the Forest of Dean.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **Devilsih Dream**, **PeediePanda **(Sorry, had to be done), **TheHuntress95** (Thank you!), the person on the **Guest **account (You're going to have to wait and see :P), **simpleyray09 **and **elle **(Awww, thank you. Na, it's not soppy: I want them back together too)!

CHAPTER 27-

'You need to go and talk to her, Draco.' I hadn't left my bedroom for three days, not with all of this happening. I was engaged to Astoria, Luna had betrayed the Light side and Hermione was trying to get herself killed. Somebody knocked on the bedroom door and Blaise left my side to answer it.

'Where's Drakey? His daddy said we had to spend time with each other.' I groaned into the tear-sodden pillow and Pansy cast muffliato so Astoria wouldn't hear me.

'He's on his broom at the bottom of the garden. Why don't you go and see if you can find him?' She skipped off down the corridor happily. Blaise had given her that excuse three times now, so it was good job she was brain dead; the complete opposite of Hermione.

Hermione.

I began crying again and Blaise shut the door. 'Again, Draco?' He sat down on the bed and put his hand on my arm. 'Look, I know I've never had to tell my girlfriend that I want her dead when I love her and then find out one of her best friends was the reason why you had to do it. But-'

'Wait, you loved her?' Pansy eyes became wide as I briefly glanced at her.

'Correction: I currently love her. And she loves me too… not for very long though.'

'Anyway, I don't know how you're feeling, but I can tell you now that staying locked up in your bedroom is not going to make all of this pain go away. You need to stop crying, pull yourself together and go and talk to Luna.' I sat up and glared at Blaise. 'Well, at least that got you to sit up.' There was another knock at the door, and my mother entered straight away.

'Are you feeling better, Draco?' I looked up at my mum then back down at the sheets on my bed, noticing a new scar on her cheek. I looked back up and saw that her eyes were red from crying, probably like mine.

'Why is your cheek like that?' I immediately jumped up, feeling dizzy as I hadn't stood up that quickly in three days.

'It's nothin-'

'Mum.' She looked up at me, a scared expression on her face.

'Your father. He was angry at you for disappointing the Dark Lord and not spending enough time with your new fiancée, so he did this. It's fine, really.'

'No, it's not. If he wants to take his anger out on somebody, he takes it out on me, not you. Where is he?'

'He's out on a mission for the Dark Lord. Are you okay?' I shrugged and she hugged me. 'What's upset you?'

'Nothing.' I turned away from her.

'Draco…' My mum knew me well enough not to press me and left the room.

'Come on.' I pulled my t-shirt off and rummaged for a fresh one in a drawer.

'Come on, what?'

'We're going to see Luna. If I can get this sorted, then I can focus my mind on over throwing that massive idiot downstairs more, then I can get him to take whatever curse he's put on my Dad off and get Hermione back quicker and tell her how I feel.'

* * *

We all lit our wands with lumos as we made our way down the steps to the dungeons. We walked down the dark corridor, and I could hear Luna crying and Ollivander's cracked yet soothing voice trying to comfort her. 'Luna.' The two prisoners looked up when they heard my voice.

'Draco…'

'I understand. I don't forgive you, but I understand. I would have done anything for my family too. Two questions though. Will you fight on our side? The light side, when it comes to the war.' She nodded, wiping away the tears. 'Secondly, where do you live?'

* * *

I was sat at the entrance to the tent reading a book on Rowena Ravenclaw. It was midnight and it was my turn to be on watch. My wand was on the ground beside me and I was wrapped in a blanket. There was noise behind me and grabbed my wand and spun around to see Harry in his pyjamas. 'It's only me. I couldn't sleep.' I nodded as he sat down next to me, put my wand back down and carried on reading. After a few minutes, he spoke. 'I know.'

'Know what?'

'About Draco.' I looked up at him curiously.

'What about that ferret?' My heart ached as I referred to him as that.

'Your necklace.' I looked down to see my necklace had transfigured back to the golden serpent that Draco had given me. 'Glamour charms fade unless you renew them, surely you know that, Hermione. And I bet that jumper you're wearing is his, you've just glamoured it every day.' I nodded and took off the charm so it revealed the green material. We sat in silence for a while longer.

'I miss him.'

'I understand.'

'How?'

'Ginny's not here, is she?' I smiled softly at him.

'You and Ginny are in love, and you only ended it so she wouldn't get hurt. As soon as all of this is over, you two can be together again. Draco… doesn't love me. He was just taking information from me, that's all. He might have taken my virginity too if he'd told me that he loved me.' My head fell into my hands as I noted the bitter tone my voice held when I said that. 'I love him so much…' I whispered, my tears falling fast, and I thought about all of the times that I cried; Draco would always listen to my worries, wipe away my tears, hug me, kiss my forehead, and then carry me upstairs to his bedroom. Harry put his arms around me and rocked me into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up the next morning inside the tent, with the silver star hung around my neck once more and wearing a cream jumper that I had never seen before. I raised the material to my nose and breathed in the last of Draco's scent that only made fresh tears well up in my eyes.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **Booknerdxx ** (Thank you!), **TheHuntress95 **(Oh, sorry! Thank you!), **little-lestrange**, **elle**, **Devilish Dream **(I agree, he is a bit OOC, but Hermione has kind of changed him), **KaylahDemi**, **leathersilk **(Awww, sorry! You'll just have to wait and find out)!

CHAPTER 28-

'Are you sure you want to do this?' We were stood on the steps of Luna's house in the middle of nowhere. It was dark in colour and it was strangely shaped, with weird fruit growing outside of the house.

'Yep. I just want to tell him that Luna's safe.' Pansy and Blaise stood hand in hand behind and I tried not to think about how me and Hermione used to do that as I knocked on the door. A loud crash was heard from inside, and shortly afterwards the top half of the door opened. A man with the same colour hair as Luna was looking curiously at us, wearing the strangest cardigan I have ever seen.

'Who are you?'

'Death eaters.' His eyes widened and he began to shut the door but I placed my hand firmly on it. 'Nice death eaters. We're friends with Luna.' He opened the top half of the door fully.

'What do you want?'

'Can we come in?' After a few seconds of an awkward silence, he nodded and opened the bottom half of the door for us to step in.

'Please, go upstairs and make yourselves comfortable. I'll make a fresh pot of tea.' We nodded and Pansy smiled at him whilst he fumbled around in the kitchen. We made our way up to the first floor of the house and sat on the rickety arm chairs. Luna's dad came up a couple minutes later, carrying a tray with four steaming mugs on them. We each took a sip and it didn't taste like tea at all. I smiled regardless, said thank you and placed it on the table. 'Have you heard from Luna recently? She hasn't been replying to any of my letters that I've been sending to Hogwarts.'

'She's safe, Mr Lovegood.'

'Why would three death eaters come and tell me that? Besides, if she was safe, why isn't she replying to my letters?' I sighed and sat up straight in my chair.

'She's in the dungeons at Malfoy Manor.' Mr Lovegood looked confused for a moment, then his eyes became large once more.

'Malfoy manor… Malfoy… Draco Malfoy!' He stood up and tried to draw his wand from his pocket, but his hands begin to shake and he couldn't do it.

'I haven't hurt her, and I won't hurt you. Nice death eater, remember?' He sat back down slowly.

'How is she?'

'She's okay. She hasn't been subject to the cruciatus curse yet, and she gets food twice day.' I nodded and his face looked lighter, like he'd been holding a breath for a lifetime's worth. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. 'Mr Lovegood, do you know that Luna was told they were keeping you locked up, and therefore betrayed the light side?'

'She wouldn't do that.' He practically snapped at me. 'She is pure.'

'I never said she wasn't. She's already agreed to fight on the light side.' He nodded and I noticed he had begun to act quite jittery. I pushed it to the back of my mind and stood up. 'Thank you for your time, Mr Lovegood. And for the… tea.' If you could call it tea.

'You're not going to cruciatus me then?'

'We're nice.' He remembered once more and Pansy and Blaise stood up. 'We'll see ourselves out.' He smiled and we went down the stairs and out the front door and walked across the field a little before talking. 'He was strange.'

'What did you expect, Draco? You've seen how Luna is at school: why would her dad be any different?'

'No, I don't mean that. Towards the end, he started to shake… like he was hiding something. I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid. I don't want You-know-who and my father finding out we're talking to the prisoners.' We joined hands and apparated back to the Manor, just outside the wards, and we commenced to walk down the central drive to report back to Luna in the dungeons.

* * *

I was sat in the tent reading 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' with my ancient runes books I had brought in my purple beaded bag with me spread out on the floor. Harry was collecting firewood and Ron was sat on his bed listening to Potterwatch. I tapped my wand impatiently on the introductory page of the book Dumbledore had given me. On it, there was a symbol which I couldn't find in any of my books. It was a triangle with a circle and a line in the centre of it, and after trawling through my memories of all of the books I had ever read before, I still couldn't work out what it meant. I sighed, and the radio transmission ended.

'What's up with you?' I glanced behind myself at Ron.

'I can't work out what this symbol means. Do you recognise it?' The bed creaked as he got off it and came over.

'No, sorry. You're better asking Harry: you know what my memory's like.' He returned to his bed and laid down, and I waited for Harry's return. There was the sound of wood being placed on the ground outside and Harry entered the tent. I stood up and showed him the book.

'Do you recognise this symbol?' His brow creased as he thought and then he smiled.

'Yes, Luna's dad was wearing it on a necklace at the wedding.' Ron sat up and came over to us. 'Do you think it might be important, Hermione?' I nodded.

'Do any of you know where Luna lives?'


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **Booknerdxx **(I know they're short, sorry! I'm trying to make them longer), **TheHuntress95**, **leathersilk **and **AliceSherlockHolmes** (No problem)!

CHAPTER 29-

'Is he okay, Draco?' I nodded to Luna and made the lumos on my wand brighter and pointed it towards the goblin in her cell.

'Has he said why he's here yet?' Ollivander shook his head.

'Why don't you ask your parents?'

'I'm not supposed to be down here; that's why.' Luna grabbed my wrist through the cell bars, and I tried not to flinch away from her.

'What did he say?'

'He certainly doesn't think that you'd ever betray the light side for a start. Other than that, he was quite jumpy and kept on forgetting we were nice death eaters. He practically asked us to cruciatus him as we left.' I shook my head. 'We should be getting back upstairs.' Me, Blaise and Pansy broke away from the cell and began to walk back down the passageway when Luna called out to me.

'Do you forgive me yet?'

'No.'

* * *

A few hours after lunch, I was sat in one of the many reception rooms reading quietly, Theo and Millicent sat a few metres away having a game of wizard chess.

_There were once three brothers, and whilst on a trip one day, they came to a river. They all took their wands and formed a bridge with their magic so they could cross the river safely. Death saw this, and Death felt cheated; but instead of acting angry, he congratulated them and offered each of the brothers a gift of their choosing. The first broth-_

The book was knocked out of my hands and onto the rug as Astoria jumped onto my lap, draping her arms around my neck and I tried to supress a groan. 'Hey, Drakey-Wakey.' She kissed me on the nose and giggled. I scratched the spot on my nose where she had touched me and tried to loosen the death grip that she had on my neck.

'Err… hi, Astoria.' Theo grunted slightly, pretending not to laugh. I clenched my jaw and patted Astoria's back.

'Your daddy said we have to have some bonding time.' I grimaced at her sickly-sweet tone.

'Yeah, he told me.' I bit my lip and an idea popped into my head. 'You know, I was thinking, before we start getting all lovey-dovey with each other, I think we should become really good friends.'

'How?' She looked downwards to show her disappointment in my suggestion.

'Well, me and Blaise became friends when we played games with each other.'

'What kind of games?'

'We used to play hide and seek in the gardens every single day. It made us the best friends we are today.' Astoria jumped up and dragged me with her in her excitement. 'You go and hide somewhere in the gardens, and I'll come and find you.' She grinned and ran out of the room, Theo and Millicent bursting into laughter. 'Oh, shut up, you two.' I stood up and returned the book to the shelf.

'Are you really going to play hide and seek with her?' Millicent asked me in between her giggles.

'Yes. I'll just take my time in finding her. Those gardens are rather big.' They laughed as they knew what I meant and my father came into the room.

'Draco, we need you in the drawing room. We have some prisoners that need… identifying.'

* * *

We stood on the steps of Luna's house, and it was everything I expected it to be: weird and quirky, just like her. I smiled and Ron eyed up the fruits outside of the house strangely. I knocked on the door and someone shouted from inside: 'Are you death eaters?'

'Ermm... no. Why would we be?' Luna's dad opened up the top half of the door.

'I had a group of three young ones here this morning claiming that they were nice. What do you want?'

'We're friends of Luna's.' I said hopefully and he began to shut the door.

'No! Using glamour charms on your whole body will not wash with me!'

'Wait! Mr Lovegood, do you remember me? From the wedding?' He opened the door to look at Harry. 'Harry Potter.' Luna's dad smiled and opened the bottom of the door to us.

'Of course! Come in, come in!' He ushered us into the room and began to lead us up the spiral staircase to the sitting area. 'It's just gone twelve, do you want some soup?'

'No, it's quite alright. We ate before we set off.'

'Tea then?' He asked as we all sat down. We shook our heads and sat down. 'What is it that I can do for you?'

'Mr Lovegood, at the wedding, you were wearing a necklace, with a symbol attached to it.'

'You mean this one?' Luna's dad held up a necklace that had a symbol on it that was exactly the same as the one that had been drawn in my book. 'This is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, as in the Deathly Hallows from the story about the three brothers.'

'Who are the three brothers?' I explained the story to Harry, and Mr Lovegood picked up a quill and a scrap of parchment and drew the symbol for the Deathly Hallows as I read each one out.

'So, the line is the elder wand, the circle is the resurrection stone and the triangle is the invisibility cloak.' Mr Lovegood nodded and began to wring his hands nervously as he stood up.

'I'll go and make you all so tea.' He said as he made his way downstairs and Ron narrowed his eyes.

'I swear you told him we didn't want any tea.'

'Something's wrong…' We all got up and made our way downstairs. 'Thank you for your time, Mr Lovegood, but we really must be goin-'

He slammed his hands down on the table and began to cry. 'You can't! I made a deal with him… and they have her… they told me this morning…' Without a seconds warning, Luna's dad was across to the front door and had opened it wide, and screamed as loud as he could, 'Voldemort!'

'The taboo!' About four death eaters flew towards the house and the glass in all of the windows smashed with the force of their arrival. I screamed and we all got down on the floor. Me and Harry crawled over to Ron, joined hands and we apparated to a forest.

We all got up off the ground at the same time as the death eaters did. How did they manage to follow us? We turned the other way, ready to run, only to be greeted by another death eater leaning against a tree.

'Well, what are you waiting for? Snatch them!'

**A/N: **Cliff hanger, but: where are the snatchers going to take Harry, Hermione and Ron? You all know the answer, so I'm expecting reviews with lots of speculation in them :P


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie** and to my reviewers **Booknerdxx** (Aww! Thank you!), **Devilish Dream¸ HaterJo** and **elle**! I have AS level exams starting on Monday for 3 weeks, and I have written the next chapter ready which will be up either Friday, but I may be going to see The Great Gatsby (Which I highly recommend! Best book ever!), so possibly Saturday. However, I haven't written anything more yet as I need to watch the second part of the Deathly Hallows to get aspects of the real story as I have no time to re-read the last book and it's been a while. Hope this is okay with you! Enjoy the chapter! :D

CHAPTER 30-

Me, Harry and Ron were apparated to Malfoy Manor with the Snatchers, and then led through the front door and into the drawing room. Bellatrix was there, along with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew. I looked between the masters of the house, as if I could see Draco in the combination of their facial features. I shook my head: he was probably at Hogwarts screwing some dumb blonde who didn't mean a thing to him either.

I felt my bottom lip tremble at that thought but I clamped my mouth shut tightly. _No, Hermione. You can't afford to show any weakness right now. _I glanced at Harry who was staring at the floor with his face all swollen up from the stinging hex that I fired so no one would recognise him.

I was more worried about the snatcher who was twirling the sword of Godric Gryffindor around in his hands. They had searched my bag in the forest and found it, and someone was bound to recognise it.

'What's that you're holding?' Bellatrix asked as she approached the snatcher.

'Not too sure really. I found it in the girl's bag and thought I might keep it.' He smiled a nearly toothless grin at her and Bellatrix took the sword off him, examining it carefully.

'This sword is mine, from my vault! Leave, now!' The snatchers sighed and left the Manor, and Bellatrix leant the sword against the wall and turned to me. 'How did you get into my vault at Gringotts?'

'I didn't, I swear. I was given it.'

She slapped me. 'Liar.' Then she turned to Lucius. 'Are these three the golden trio?'

'That's definitely the Weasel and the Mudblood, but I can't tell if that one's Potter. I think he's been subject to a stinging hex.' She nodded in agreement.

'Fetch Draco.' I swallowed down the visible lump in my throat.

* * *

Draco walked into the drawing room followed by his father. I looked down at the floor, hoping they would just carry me off to the dungeons and subject me to the cruciatus curse: it would be better than being in a room with Draco.

'Is this Potter?' Lucius led Draco over to Harry, and I was thankful that Ron was stood in between me and Harry.

'It's hard to say. What's wrong with his face? I don't remember him looking like that the last time that I saw him.'

'We think it's a stinging hex.' Draco nodded.

'It could be him. But I never got that close to him, so it might not be. Why don't you just release him?' Lucius slapped Draco and I almost cried out as I witnessed the abuse that Draco had described to me so many times before.

'Because it might be him, stupid boy!' Bellatrix stepped forward and pulled the two men apart.

'Pettigrew, take Potter and Weasley down to the dungeons: I want to interrogate the Mudblood about my sword.' Pettigrew took Harry and Ron roughly by the arms and led them down some stairs. I looked up and saw Narcissa with her arm around Draco, making sure he was alright. He kept on nodding, quickly glancing at me. I looked back down at the floor. 'Now, Mudblood. Where did you get my sword?'

'I told you. I was given it.' She slapped me once more and pushed me onto the floor.

'Where did you get my sword?'

'I was given it!'

'Liar! Crucio!' A red streak shot out of her wand and hit me in the chest; one of the unforgivable curses lifting me into the air. My head began to pound loudly and my vision became blurry, and felt like I had stepped into a scolding hot shower, and hadn't gathered my senses enough to step out of it. 'Where did you get my sword from?!'

'I was given it!' I tried hard not to scream out as she let the curse go and fell with a heavy thump back onto the floorboards. She tried and failed with the same method several times, and when she finally stopped I couldn't decide whether she believed me, and she was simply too bored to carry on. I still didn't know what she thought as she reached for a dagger that was on a chair by the wall.

'You think you're so damn clever, don't you, Mudblood? I'm going to do something to you that will make you hide away until the day you die.' She approached me and poised the dagger over my bare left arm, but just as it was about to be imbedded in my flesh, she stopped and got up off the floor. 'Draco?'

'Yes, Aunt?' He stepped forwards away from his mother and towards Bellatrix.

'Carve the word "Mudblood" into her arm, will you?' She passed him the dagger and he smirked.

'With pleasure.' His aunt joined her sister and Draco approached me. My heart began to pound and there were butterflies in my stomach. _No, Hermione. You shouldn't be feeling this now. Not when your own life and that of your friends are in peril._ He knelt down beside me and poised the dagger over my left arm just like Bellatrix had done. Then unseen by his family behind him, he pointed his wand at my arm and muttered in an incantation. He leant down to my ear just as the coldness of the dagger's metal touched my flesh. 'Scream.' He whispered.

And I did.

Blood seeped out of my arm and the word "MUDBLOOD" began to appear there, but there was no pain. It just felt a little cold where the dagger did come into contact with my skin as Draco faintly traced the letters. 'Cry.' I whimpered underneath him as he got to the double o and I began thrashing around on the floor and Bellatrix had begun to cackle. Then I realised what he was doing for me.

He was saving me.

I forced tears down my cheeks and I cried out in pain as Draco lifted the dagger from my skin. He smirked. 'Mudblood bitch.' He put the blood stained dagger back on the chair and went back over to his mother, and even though he walked with a swagger and had a smirk on his face, he had gone very pale.

'Call the Dark Lord, Lucius. The stinging hex will have worn off-'

'Yes, it has.' I sat up a little and saw Harry and Ron stood behind me and they began to help me up off the floor. They both looked at my arm in disgust, but I simply wiped away the last of the fake tears. I turned to look at Lucius to see that he had already pressed his dark mark, and the air in the room had begun to change. Harry wasted no time and dashed over to Draco, snatching his wand from him. Then he disarmed Bellatrix and Pettigrew, giving us each a wand, so the only ones left who were armed were Narcissa and Lucius, but Narcissa looked too much in shock to be able to do anything. Ron took the sword from the wall where Bellatrix had placed it and came back over to me and Harry.

Just as Lucius was drawing his wand, Dobby appeared in front of us, and with a loud crack, we were being apparated away, the sound of Bellatrix screaming as we left.

We landed on a beach, and in the distance, I could see Luna stood in front of what looked like Shell Cottage, where Bill and Fleur lived. 'Was that all you needed, Harry Potter?'

'Yes, thank you, Dobby.' The house elf smiled, and with another loud crack, he disappeared.

'What?' I was sat on the sand, confused.

'Do you know the piece of mirror that I found at Grimauld Place? It had an eye in it that was watching me. I asked it for help, and Dobby came and apparated Luna, Ollivander and Griphook here, then he came back for us three.' I nodded and the Harry looked at my arm. 'What the hell happened?'

'I'm not too sure. Bellatrix was going to carve it into my arm, but then she made Draco do it. He knelt down and cast a spell, and told me to scream and cry, so it looked like I was in pain, and the letters appeared as he traced it along my arm. I think it's just a glamour charm though.' They both nodded and helped me up.

'We'll get Bill or Fleur to take a look at it.'

* * *

There had been no time to call off Voldemort's apparation, as about 3 seconds after Harry, Hermione and Ron had left, he appeared in the drawing room before us. He was furious, and subjected Bellatrix to the cruciatus curse. He began to grumble under his breath as I stayed under the protective wing of my mother, towards the back of the room away from him. 'Potter's parents are dead; Weasley's are too well protected. Let's teach that girl a lesson…'

'…Fetch the Mudblood's parents.'


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **Booknerdxx** (Thank you!), **little-lestrange **(Yes, sorry I didn't make it clear: Hermione hasn't obliviated her parents. I'm glad your birthday was okay in the end!), **inudemon02 **(Glad you're enjoying it), **TheHuntress95** (Haha, thanks) and **elle** (Aww, thank you xxx)! You may have to wait a little longer than a week for the next chapter. I've written the half that is Draco's perspective, but need to do Hermione's, which is what I need the film for. I have a exams on Tuesday and Friday which need revising for, and it's my little brother's birthday, so it won't be until half term when I update. Sorry!

CHAPTER 31-

I sat in my bedroom, staring out of the window. After Hermione had gone, I dragged my mother upstairs to her bedroom, as she was too in shock to move properly. When I had eventually laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her, she finally spoke.

'Draco… I can't believe you did that.'

'Did what?'

'Mudblo…' I sighed and decided to tell her what I really did: no doubt that she was confused.

'It was a glamour charm, mum. I could never hurt, Hermione, let alone anyone else.' She nodded and I kissed her on the cheek.

'Take my wand. Potter took yours. I have plenty of spares.'

'Thank you.' I took her wand and left to my own room where I had isolated myself for a few days now, the house elves being the only ones to disturb me. My head was whirring: Hermione looked so helpless, just led there on the floor of the drawing room. I led on the carpet of my bedroom and rolled up the left sleeve of my shirt and tried to mimic her position. I looked down at my own arm to see the ugly dark mark tainting my skin. At least I had saved Hermione's skin from being damaged in the same place. Someone knocked at the door. 'Come in.' My voice cracked: I hadn't spoken in a while.

Blaise came in and rushed over to where I was led. 'What on earth are you doing?' I shrugged and sat up.

'What is it?'

'I heard about Hermione. Did you really do that thing to her?'

'Are you actually crazy? If someone asked you to carve a word into Pansy's arm, would you?' He shook his head. 'I used a glamour charm. I was so scared. They were all stood right behind me… if any of them had seen…' I shook my head, knowing that I'd probably be dead now. He nodded, understanding, and sat down next to me on the floor. I suddenly felt very young, like I was five again and was trying to impress my dad, like I had been trying to do for most of my life. Now I was playing a game with no second chances. 'Was there something else?'

'Hermione's parents are in the dungeons.'

I nodded. 'Let's go.'

* * *

We walked down the steps to the dungeons, and I rapped my wand a few times on the bars of the cell, hoping someone would hear and come and investigate. After a minute or so, someone stepped into the lumos of Blaise's wand.

'Mr Malfoy, Mr Zabini.' My eyes went wide in shock as I looked at the person stood before us both in the dungeons.

'Professor Burbage? What? I don't understand…'

She shrugged in the dirty clothing she had on. 'I was out buying supplies in London for one of my muggle studies classes, and some snatchers came to get me. I guess I should have been expecting it: I am a muggle studies professor, after all.' I nodded regretfully.

'I was wondering if you could get Luna for me.'

'Luna? Luna Lovegood? Why would she be here?'

Blaise nudged me. 'They escaped with Hermione, Draco.'

'Hermione was here?' We both nodded. 'Oh, such a sweet girl. She vanished from school a few months ago, on the day you got demoted as head boy, actually.' I shivered as I remembered that day when everything had come crashing down on our heads. So we left on the same day? Had Dumbledore planned this?

'Hermione? Who said Hermione's name?' I lit a lumos with my mother's wand and saw two muggles stood a little way off the cell door. The man had curly brown hair, whilst the woman had the amber eyes of Hermione: her parents.

Despite the situation, Blaise chuckled and leant over to me. 'I don't think you maybe had this in mind for meeting the parents.' I scowled at him before turning back to them.

'We did. You must be Hermione's parents.' They nodded and tried to smile at me. 'I'm Draco Malfoy, a… friend of your daughter's.'

'Yes, she mentioned you. Her school bully, if I remember correctly.' Mr Granger put an arm around his wife protectively.

'And if I remember correctly, a good friend since the start of her seventh year.' I nodded at Hermione's mother hopefully: maybe they wouldn't hate me that much. Professor Burbage looked up through the cell bars, telling me she knew there was something more after I had gone to her to ask about the food for Valentine's Day.

'Where is Hermione? Have you hurt her?'

'No, I could never hurt her, Mr Granger.'

'I don't believe you.' He snapped at me and drew his wife even closer to his body.

'Then let me prove it. Stay here, Blaise.' I ran up to my bedroom and came down a few minutes later carrying the copy of the Daily Prophet that I had decided to keep that had the picture of me and Hermione smiling for the front cover at the Winter Ball. Looking at it now, I see that we weren't faking those smiles for the camera: we actually were happy to be in each other's arms. 'Here. This was at Christmas.' I passed the newspaper through the bars of the cell to them. Mrs Granger smiled at the picture, but Mr Granger frowned as he handed it back to me.

'You two are head boy and head girl. You had to have a picture taken.' I squeezed my eyes shut and knew that the only way to convince him otherwise was to tell him my feelings for his daughter.

'Professor, can you?' She smiled.

'Of course, Mr Malfoy.' She then turned to the two dentists. 'Draco prepared a picnic for Hermione on Valentine's day, consisting entirely of muggle foods. He said it was because your daughter was home sick, but I do believe it was because Mr Malfoy and your daughter are in love. He could never hurt her.' Blaise then commenced to tell them what happened when she was at the Manor the other day, and by the time he had finished, tears had welled up in Mrs Granger's eyes, and even Mr Granger's facial expression had softened.

'Well, that put's a different light on things.' Her parents stepped forwards and they both shook my hand through the bars of the cell. 'Are you the one who slept in our house on Christmas day?'

'Yeah, sorry about that. My parents weren't very… happy with me.' He shrugged and let it slip.

'Are you and Hermione together then?'

'That's the thing, Mrs Granger. No. The Dark Lord, the one who brought you here, told me I had to kill Hermione. The only way to prevent myself from completing the mission was to end my relationship with her. It hurt her, a lot, and I'm not lying when I say it's the worst thing I've ever done, and I've done a lot of bad things in my life. I think about it every day and just wish that I could go back and change it. I love your daughter so much that it's all I ever think about it. I just hope that one day when the light side has won the war, I can explain to her and be together with her again.'

'The light side?'

'Me and Blaise and our friend Pansy are both spies for the Order of the Phoenix, who are leading the good witches and wizards into war. I hope you can forgive me for what I've done.' Mrs Granger reached through the bars of the cell and grasped my hand tightly and nodded. All of a sudden, footsteps began to descend the stairs. I pulled out of her grip and they all retreated further back into their cell and looked terrified.

'Draco? Blaise? Why are you here?' We both turned to see my father carrying a large tray of food towards us.

'We came to taunt the mudblood's parents. You didn't say Burbage would be here too.'

'She was nearby, so we took her as well.' He shrugged off his comment like it was irrelevant and passed me the tray that he had been carrying. 'Feed our… _guests_, will you?'

'With pleasure, father.' I faked a smirk and pushed the tray through the bars forcefully, so the water spilt all over the food. My father cackled and patted me on the back.

'That's my boy. Feel free to terrorise them some more.' He went back up the stairs laughing and as soon as I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, I pointed my wand at the scarce bits of food and water, cleaned it up, and added some more.

'Sorry about that. I'll find a way to get you out of here. I don't know how, or when, but I will.' They nodded their thanks and ate their food as me and Blaise headed back upstairs to go and inform Pansy about the situation.

'As heroic as what you said sounded, how do you plan on getting three adults out of the dungeons?'

'I'll think of something: I saved Hermione from getting raped, so this can't be too difficult.'

'I wouldn't be so sure, Draco.' I slung my arm around his shoulders and smirked.

'And that's why you and Pansy will be helping me.' He frowned at me.

'Great.'

* * *

I was sat in a spare bedroom in Shell Cottage, staring at the wall in front of me. It had been a few days since we had been at Malfoy Manor, but I had hardly left this room for thinking about what happened. Fleur brought me my meals and looked at the scar, repeatedly telling me to take the glamour charm off my arm. Harry came in occasionally, to talk to me, but I sat unresponsive with a blank expression.

I can't believe Draco did that for me. I glanced down at my arm and traced over the fake scar with my finger. The last time Draco had called me a mudblood was the day I told him I loved him. Tears rolled down my cheeks and onto the Slytherin jumper. I didn't make a sound though: the more you cry, the less sound you make.

He saved me… so did he mean what he said on that day? That he hated me? Wanted me dead? I fell sideways onto the bed as I contemplated it. The jumper smelt of him a little once more, due to our close contact at the Manor, but it was already beginning to fade. There was a knock at the door. 'Come in.'

Harry entered with two plates of food and smiled at me. 'How are you feeling?' I shrugged, sat up and wiped away the tears.

'Confused.' He nodded, understanding, and sat down on the bed next to me and handed me a plate.

'Here's your tea.'

'Thanks…' I muttered quietly as I took the plate from him and began to eat. 'How's Ron? I haven't seen him.'

'In the garden, practicing spells with Pettigrew's wand. He's not spoken much either. He just keeps on muttering about how guilty he feels, but he won't tell me what about.' Harry paused and looked down at my arm. 'Why won't you take off the glamour charm?'

'I don't know… it just reminds me off him: he saved me, Harry.' He pursed his lips.

'I know.'

'What do you think that means?'

'That he still has enough decency not to hurt the girl he stole kisses from.'

'I mean something deeper, Harry. Do you think it means he regrets what happened the day we broke up?'

'I think you're looking too deeply into this, Hermione. Just because you don't have a scar on your arm doesn't mean he regrets anything.' I sighed and nodded in agreement. 'Griphook's told us why he was in Malfoy Manor.'

'Oh?'

'He's helping to protect Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts'. He wouldn't say what he was protecting though.' There was a long pause as we ate.

'I think we need to break into her vault.'

Harry's knife and fork clattered down to his plate. 'And how on earth do you plan on doing that? Gringotts has almost as much security as the Ministry.'

'This might help.' I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out a piece of brown hair that was going grey.

'Whose hair is that?'

'Bellatrix's. I found it on my jumper, and she was the only person near to me. Well, Draco was too, but he has beautiful platinum blonde hair that shines in the sunlight and-'

'Hermione.'

'Sorry. I'll start brewing up some polyjuice potion.'


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie** and to my reviewers **inudemon02 **(Haha), **Booknerdxx **(Thank you! Only got one exam left to do), **elle**, **allisath**, **Dramioneforever** and **TheHuntress95**! Some of the lines have been taken straight from the film due to the fact I came straight home from college after my maths exam, had lunch then watched the film whilst typing this, so if sounds familiar, it's probably because it is. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 32-

'How do I look?'

'Awful.'

'Thanks, Ronald.' We were hiding in Knockturn Alley, and I had just drank the polyjuice potion to change my appearance to match Bellatrix's. 'Ready to go?'

'You are aware that this is impossible?' Harry rolled his eyes at Griphook. 'There are many curious things inside her vault.'

'Just get on my back, Griphook.'

'When do I get my sword?'

'After we've got in the vault.' I couldn't believe Harry had agreed to give Griphook the sword of Gryffindor for helping us get the horcrux: what was the point of retrieving it if we couldn't destroy it? I threw the invisibility cloak over the pair and me and Ron proceeded to walk up to Gringotts. Various people nodded at us, and I pursed my lips in their direction: fearing that my voice might give us away. We entered the bank and walked straight up to the desk at the end of the hall; the goblin not looking up when I began to speak to him.

'I wish to enter my vault.'

'Identification?'

'I don't believe that is necessary.' The goblin looked up at me and realised who he was speaking to.

'Miss Lestrange.' He sounded surprised and took a deep breath before continuing, afraid that I might hex him. 'I am afraid it is the bank's policy to show your wand for identification. Surely you know that with the current climate.' I heard slow footsteps behind me and Ron turned around and stepped closer to me.

'It's a guard. They must have been warned.'

'Your wand, Miss Lestrange.' I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes before handing over Bellatrix's wand to the goblin. He examined it carefully before looking up at me, about to say he wouldn't let us in, but then I heard Harry mutter the Imperius curse, and the goblin's face broke out into a smile. 'This way, Miss Lestrange.' He gave me back my wand and we all followed him. I breathed properly again.

'Are you okay?' I nodded at Ron's whisper and we all climbed into a cart. Griphook began to steer it down the rails, the goblin under the Imperius curse still with us. His head was lolling from side to side, and there was a permanent smile on his face.

'Griphook! What's that?' I turned away from the goblin to see a waterfall, one that we were heading straight for.

'Thieves downpour! It washes away any magical enchantment.' We passed under, and as I gasped at the coldness of the water, I felt the effects of the polyjuice potion disappear, as well as the mudblood glamour charm that Draco had used on me. I sighed sadly, then all of the sudden the cart stopped and launched the seats downwards, and we were hurtling through the air, smacking into the ground.

'Owwww…'

'Couldn't think of a spell, Hermione?'

'Sorry. My mind was… elsewhere.' The goblin who had been under the Imperius curse got off the floor and looked around at us all, clearly confused.

'You shouldn't b-'

'Imperio!' The goblin smiled again and swayed from side to side. Griphook began to walk off and we followed cautiously, due to the sound of a dragon. 'Is that a Ukrainian Ironbelly? Why do you have a dragon in Gringotts?!'

'It keeps out thieves: these are the high security vaults.' Griphook picked up an instrument of some kind, and handed another to Ron. 'Shake it. It has learnt to associate the noise it makes with pain.'

'That's barbaric.'

'Do you want to get in or not?' I narrowed my eyes at him, but followed as the dragon cowered away into the corner at the sound. He eventually put the device down and we walked down a corridor. Griphook placed his finger into a hole in the wall, and the metal next to it began to shift and change, and the door opened for us.

'Lumos.' We all stepped in and looked around the room. 'Is it here, Harry?' Harry looked around the room carefully, and his eyes rested on an item at the back of the room.

'That cup. That's the horcrux.' We nodded and Harry began to make his way to the back of the room. I moved my wand around the room and accidentally knocked over a small cup, which fell to the floor and began to multiply.

'Bellatrix put the Gemino curse and almost everything. Be careful what you touch.' I nodded to Griphook, then Ron decided to knock a silver plate off a table. The plate touched more things and soon we were surrounded by multiplying objects, mostly from Ron, but quite a few caused by Harry due to him having to climb up some of the objects to get to the cup. We were soon buried halfway up our torsos with the objects, and I was finding it hard to breathe.

'Don't move.'

The cup was almost within Harry's grasp, but he couldn't quite reach it. 'The sword, Hermione.' I threw him Gryffindor's sword and he slid the blade threw the handle of it so it came down from the shelf. He slipped and the objects began to multiply once more, and we were buried up to our neck in the sea of gold and silver. The cup flew through the air and landed by Griphook's feet, who had stayed by the door with the Imperioed goblin all of this time. He snatched up the cup greedily. 'Give me the cup, Griphook!'

'The sword, Mr Potter!' Harry threw him the sword and I caught the cup. Griphook turned to leave.

'We had a deal!'

'You said I had to get you in! You didn't say anything about getting you out.' He left with the other goblin, taking both of the devices used to distract the dragon. We eventually crawled out of Bellatrix's vault, gasping for air, but the Gringotts guards gave us no time to catch our breath due to the amount of spells that were flying in our direction.

'Any ideas, Hermione?'

I thought about all of our possible options, and finally came to one solution. 'Just one. It's crazy though.' The boys shrugged, who were ready to accept anything now, and I destroyed the balcony by us before taking a running jump and leaping onto the dragon, grasping on to it tightly. 'Come on!' They jumped on and I cast reducto, destroying the chain that was holding the dragon to the wall. It took off with a cry of pain, and the guards all ran away in fear. It flew upwards, and we soon crashed through the roof and came through into the foyer of the bank. Goblins ran everywhere as the dragon continued to fly upwards through a glass roof, and we looked out at the almost deserted Diagon Alley. The dragon didn't move and Harry looked at me, slightly worried. 'Reducto!'

The dragon moaned and took off, and we held on even tighter to it as it flew across the countryside. 'It's losing height. Drop, now!' We all let go and fell into a lake beneath us. I resurfaced and saw the boys were already swimming to the shore. I went after them and handed them clothes out of my beaded bag. 'He knows.'

'What?'

'You-know-who. He knows. He's at Gringotts. He knows we've got the cup.'

'What do we do?'

'We need to get into Hogwarts.' He said breathlessly. 'The last horcrux is there. It has something to do with Rowena Ravenclaw.'

'How on earth are we going to get into Hogwarts? Dementors are everywhere.'

'We'll go to Hogsmeade. We can use the secret passageway in Honeydukes' cellar.'

'We can't just go, Harry!' I zipped up my pink fleece I had put on, then put a denim jacket over the top of it. 'We need to plan.'

'There's no point in a plan, Hermione. We just need to do this, alright?' I nodded. 'Let's go.' We all joined our hands together and apparated to Hogsmeade, the sound of Snatchers already coming. 'Hide!' We hid behind some benches, the sound of Snatchers becoming louder as they neared where we were. I saw a man's shadow by the side of the bench, but the snatcher was called away by another, telling him that we were at the other side of the village.

'Quickly! In here!' A man appeared at the entrance to the Hog's Head Inn, and we ran towards him. The closer I got to him, the more and more he reminded me off Dumbledore. He was a little chubbier, and his beard was more of a grey than a white, but he still reminded me of my head master. He locked the door behind us and pointed to a table where there was some food and drinks, which we gratefully accepted.

'Who's that?' Ron asked when he had finished, indicating to the portrait on the wall of a young girl in a blue dress with long blonde hair.

'It doesn't matter. What are you doing here, Potter?'

'I'm trying to help. Why do you have that picture of me?' We all looked towards the wall and saw a small photo of Harry. It had been framed in glass, and there was a small section missing from it.

'Fletcher gave it to me.'

'But it was Sirius'. You have no-'

'I thought you might say that. That piece of mirror saved you though.' Harry looked at him strangely before taking out a small section of mirror from his pocket, the same shape as the missing piece. 'What exactly are you here for?'

'We need to get into Hogwarts. Tonight.'

'Forget it.' He walked to the other side of the pub.

'You're Aberforth, aren't you?' I said. He nodded. 'Dumbledore's brother.' He snorted at the mention of his brother's name.

'I'm guessing that brother of mine set you a task. An easy one, was it?' Harry shook his head. 'Thought so. You going into Hogwarts tonight is the equivalent of you committing suicide. Why do you so badly want to help my brother?'

'Because I trust him! We all do!' He snorted.

'Then you're all fools. You're only children. Go. Leave. Find somewhere safe. Live a bit longer.'

'We don't care. We've all given up so much to do this. Quitting now would be pointless.' As Harry spoke, I thought about Draco. It's not like I had given him up. To some extent, he had given me up. My heart began to speed up as I thought about him, but I shook my head slightly so I wouldn't think about it. The butterflies in my stomach disappeared, and there felt like there was a hole inside of me, right where my heart should be.

'Is that Arianna?' I asked, talking about the picture once more. Aberforth nodded.

'My sister. I loved her. Albus loved her. She loved him so much. He may as well have been the sun to her. She practically sacrificed herself for him. And you three are about to do the same.'

'I don't care what you think! We are going to find a way into Hogwarts tonight!' Harry raised his voice, something I didn't usually hear him do. Aberforth stared at him for a long time before slowly shaking his head.

'I can't believe I'm going to do this.' He looked at Arianna's portrait. 'You know what to do.' She smiled and turned, skipping happily off down a country road that was painted behind her. 'Wait here: she won't be long.' Aberforth walked off and Harry sat back down. Soon enough, Arianna skipped back into view, and looked as if there was someone with her. The portrait opened, and out jumped Neville.

'Blimey. What happened to you three?'

'Neville!' We all ran and hugged him and he laughed.

'How have things been at school?'

'Fine. A bit strange without you three around though. And of course, we've been lost without our head boy and girl.' I laughed slightly.

'Drac- I mean Malfoy couldn't have been gone that long.'

'He disappeared on the same day as you three. I thought he might have gone with you: you seemed to becoming close. Then again: once a ferret, always a ferret.' I tried to smile and Neville helped us in to the passageway just as Aberforth appeared. 'There'll be some more students coming through soon.'

'Why?'

'Because the younger students can't stay at school.'

'Yes, but why?'

'We have some spies on the inside: the war's about to start.'

* * *

We followed Neville through the passageway and we came out at the room of requirement, anticipation to fight flowing through us all. There were several students, all from seventh and sixth year, and they clapped when they saw us.

'Good to see you all.' Seamus and Dean hugged us each, and Luna and Pavarti ran up to me grinning. How did Luna get here? (**A/N: **Seriously: how did she get there? I was watching the film this afternoon and I was just like 'How did she manage to get in the RoR?!' If anyone knows, put it in a review or PM me) Lavender ran to Ron and she pretty much tackled him to the floor. She began to thump him in the chest before breaking down into tears. Ron wiped them away and kissed her, and she couldn't stop smiling. Colin Creevey was sat in the corner of the room, and was speaking quickly into a microphone. Potterwatch. That was the boy Ron had to thank for keeping up his spirits.

'Neville! Harry's been sigh-'

We all turned to look at Ginny, who was stood by the door. The redhead looked at Harry and walked slowly towards him. 'It is really…' She asked as she got closer towards him.

'Yes.' She ran the rest of the distance and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back with just as much force and they began to kiss. My heart began to ache: I think a part of me expected Draco to come through the door, run to me and tell me that he didn't mean a word of what he said on that horrible day. My imagination began to take off and I shook my head.

When Harry and Ginny finished, he spoke. 'Why are you all in here?'

'Dumbledore's Army. We worked out when you left that something bad might happen, so we started to train again. We hang out here, too. And Colin does Potterwatch. Come on. Dumbledore and McGonagall have rounded up all of the students in the Great Hall. Let's go and meet your army, Harry.' Harry swallowed nervously and we all walked through the school to the hall, where everyone was sat at their house tables.

Some students gasped when they saw Harry, Ron and me, but we carried on walking, with the rest of the DA to the front of the hall where all of the teachers were, as well as the remaining Order Members, including Molly, Arthur, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Fleur, Remus, Tonks and Kingsley. 'Glad to see you three here safely. How are we doing on the horcruxes?' Dumbledore asked us quietly.

'We have one that needs destroying, another is in the school. We have two more to get though. I think one may be Nagini. The other…' Harry shrugged. 'And we have no way of destroying them.'

'What is the horcrux in the school?'

'It's something to do with Ravenclaw.' Dumbledore gestured to Professor Flitwick and the Charms professor came towards us.

'Yes, head master?'

'Do you know of anything that belongs to Ravenclaw? It has to be something specific.' Flitwick thought for a moment.

'There is Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. But it's been lost for centuries. I suppose you could ask the ghost, the Grey Lady, but she's very shy. I doubt you'll find her.'

'I know where she is.' We all turned to see Luna looking at us. 'I talk to her sometimes. I missed her when I was in the dungeons at the Manor.'

'Alright, Luna can help me find the diadem then.'

'Is there anything else you need, Harry?' He swallowed before replying.

'An army.' Harry was about to address the room when a young girl in Hufflepuff began to scream and a hissing noise began to be heard throughout the hall. I turned to my right as Padma began to scream, Pavarti trying to comfort her.

Then we all heard Voldemort's voice. _"You may think that it is wise to fight, but it is folly. Give Harry Potter to me, and you will not be harmed. I will leave you untouched and you shall be rewarded. You have one hour."_ The chilling voice stopped, and I let out a shaky breath.

Filch entered the hall and looked around bewildered with Mrs Norris at his feet. He turned and left again. Harry stepped forwards and began to address the entire school.

'Anyone in years one to four are to leave immediately. Professor's…' A few of Professors nodded and they rounded up everyone and took them up to the seventh floor. 'Anyone remaining can choose to fight. Anyone who wishes to be safe, go to the room of requirement.' Nobody moved. After a few seconds, Professor Sprout stepped forwards and spoke to Harry.

'What about the Slytherins? Can they be trusted? Should they go to the dungeons?'

'No!' I found myself shouting. 'Wait.' I stepped forwards and addressed the remainder of students that were in Slytherin house. 'I know you all probably hate me, because I'm a muggle born.' No sound was heard. 'Please raise your hand if you wish to fight. On our side. The light side. The right side.' The whole house put their hands up and I smiled, and stepped backwards to stand beside Harry once more.

'How did you know to do that?'

'I know Draco hurt me, and told me that he wasn't really our spy, but Snape is still loyal to us. Who says the rest of the Slytherins haven't changed?' Harry smiled at me, and Ron glanced over at me, looking very guilty.

'Okay. Everyone's staying. Be on your guard. Fight as best as you can and help those in need. Gryffindors down at the covered bridge, Slytherins in the entrance courtyard. Hufflepuffs at the green houses and ivy curtain. Ravenclaws at the lake. Teachers and Order members, go where you see fit. Good luck everybody. I hope to see you all soon.' Everybody nodded to Harry and left until it was just me, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lavender, Luna and Neville left in the hall.

'Me and Luna are going to find the diadem. Ron and Hermione, you need to find a way to destroy the horcruxes.'

'I have an idea.' I looked at Ron.

'You do?'

'Yes. Do you mind if I go with Lavender instead though?' I smiled.

'Just as long as you don't make out: you have a job to do.' He smiled back at me and I handed him the cup from the vault before they ran off.

'Neville, Ginny and Hermione; go down to the covered bridge with the rest of the Gryffindors.' We all nodded and as I began to leave, I saw the patronus of a doe skip past the door. Neville had seen it too. I looked around for Ginny, but she had hung back.

'Harry, I… I love you.'

'I love you too, Ginny.' They both smiled and kissed. Ginny ran to me and Neville and we made our way to the covered bridge to defend our school and our lives.

* * *

I was in the library with Blaise, Pansy and Snape. I paced up and down between the shelves trying to think of a way to free Hermione's parents and Professor Burbage. 'It can't be done, Draco!' My godfather shouted across the library to me, and I walked back to where he was sat with Pansy and Blaise at the centre table.

'Why on earth are you here? Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?' He shrugged. 'Hermione, Harry, Ron, Luna, Ollivander and Griphook escaped. Through a house elf. Well, we have plenty of house elves.'

'They have to be ordered directly by their master to do things like apparating people.'

'I am their master. I do live here, after all.'

'You are the third master. They answer to your mother and father above you. Besides, you'd still have to get the house elf into the dungeon.'

I narrowed my eyes at him. 'I'm pretty sure we're currently having a conversation about apparation. They can apparate themselves inside the dungeons.' Snape drummed his fingers on the table.

'Well, great. First, you need a house elf that is either completely under your control, or a free one that is willing to do your bidding and who you can trust. Secondly, if you do find a house elf, where are Professor Burbage and Hermione's parents going to go?' I tapped my foot on the floor impatiently as I thought.

'Dobby.' Snape raised his eyebrows at me.

'You are aware, that Dobby no longer serves your family, and currently works in the Hogwarts kitchens, and by simply saying a name was not answering my question.'

'Yes, but he was the one who helped Hermione escape, and could take Professor Burbidge and her parents to the same place. It's probably safe, or he wouldn't have taken them there.'

'And how exactly are you planning on getting Dobby here?'

I grinned at him. 'Well, you need to get back to Hogwarts for a start.' He threw his head back and groaned quietly.

'I'll be back soon.' He got up and left the library swiftly. I smirked and sat down in the chair he'd just been in.

'Nicely handled, Draco.' I smiled at my best friend and he kissed Pansy's cheek and I turned away from him.

* * *

Snape came back into the library about 20 minutes later, a house elf tucked under his cloak. 'Well, that was a nightmare.'

'Why? What happened?'

'Convincing Dobby to come with me was easy. Getting back to the Manor was easy. But on the way back up here, Bellatrix decided to stop me on the corridor for a chat. And Dobby kept on whimpering.' Dobby emerged from Snape's cloak and he jumped up on the table in front of me.

'Professor Snape told Dobby what Dobby must do.'

'And will you?' He nodded eagerly.

'Anything for Draco and Hermione. Draco and Hermione love each other.' I smiled at him and Blaise smirked.

'You told a house elf?' I shrugged.

'Hermione's parents and Professor Burbage need apparating to the same place you took Hermione before.'

'You mean Sh-' I held up my hand to stop him.

'Please don't. I need to stay away from her, and I won't be able to do that if you tell me where they went.' Dobby nodded. 'I will summon you when there is an appropriate moment to set them free. Until then, wait in my bedroom. You remember where it is, right?' He nodded and clicked his fingers, and he was gone.

A few seconds later, the library door creaked open. My mother eventually emerged from out of the bookshelves. 'Death Eater meeting, in the dining room, now.' We all got up and followed her to the dining room and I took my seat in between her and my father, with Astoria grinning wildly opposite me. Once everyone had sat down, a manipulated body was levitated to the air above the table, and I tried not to gasp when I saw it was Professor Burbage.

'We have before us, Professor Burbage, the muggle studies professor at Hogwarts.' We all laughed and sniggered at her. 'Do you know of Dumbledore's plans?'

'No. He doesn't tell me anything other than that he wants you dead.' Voldemort shot her a stinging hex and she moaned in pain.

'So, you believe that muggles and wizards are the same.'

'Yes.' He cackled and shot another hex at her.

'Why?'

'Because they are.' She winced a pain after another hex was administered.

'Do you have any last words, Professor?'

'You need to tell her that you love her.'

'Tell who?'

'I wasn't talking to you.' Voldemort smirked.

'Avada Kedavra!' A green light left his wand and Burbage's limp body fell to the table in front of me and my head began to reel slowly. _"You need to tell her that you love her."_ Me. She was talking to me. Professor Burbage used her last words on me. I felt like I was going to throw up and gripped my mother's hand under the table just before I did. She gave me a strange look, as I hadn't held her hand since I was about three years old, but she squeezed it to tell me to keep calm. 'Tomorrow night, the Mudblood's parents will suffer.' We all laughed again. 'You may go.'

I let go of my mother's hand and left to my bedroom at the most appropriate moment. I led on my bed in silence. I need to get Mr and Mrs Granger out of there. Tonight. 'Dobby?' The house elf scampered out of my bathroom smiling.

'Yes, Draco?'

'Be here at midnight, okay? And be ready.' He nodded and disappeared, at the same time my mother walked into my bedroom.

'Who was that you were talking to?'

'Sphinx.' The owl cooed in the corner of the room and my mother smiled.

'Are you okay?' She sat down on my bed with a concerned face.

'Yes. It just shocked me to see someone I knew die like that. I'm fine though.' She nodded and pursed her lips.

'Hermione's parents are going to die tomorrow.'

'So I hear.' I hoped my face held a nonchalant look as I replied. She stared at me for a while before raising her eyebrows and leaving the room. I shook my head and got some sleep, knowing I would have to be up soon.

* * *

I woke up at ten to midnight, and changed the death eater robes I had fallen asleep in for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Sphinx woke up at the same time and began cooing to be let outside and I opened the window for her. A blast of cold air came in through the window and I shivered. I went over to my chest of drawers and took out the first jumper my hands felt and pulled it on. 'Dobby?' I whispered and the house elf appeared in front of me.

'Is it now?' I nodded and grabbed my mum's wand. We left the room and walked down the corridor quietly. Theo and Blaise slept down this corridor, Crabbe and Goyle in the next, then Pansy, Millicent and Astoria in the one after that one. I calmed down my breathing and led Dobby to the dungeons. When we arrived, I lit lumos and we made our way down the stairs.

'Mr and Mrs Granger?' The two prisoners stepped into the light by the bars of the cell and smiled nervously at me. 'Are you ready to go?'

'No, we haven't seen Charity for a few hours. Some people took her away before, and she hasn't returned.' Charity? Who's Chari… Oh. Professor Burbage.

I swallowed. 'She's dead. He killed her before. I couldn't do anything to stop it.' Mrs Granger began to cry quietly.

'Did she say anything? Before she died?'

'Yes. She said to tell her that you love her.'

'That's a bit strange, don't you think?'

I shook my head. 'No. She was talking to me about your daughter.' Mrs Granger's mouth formed into a little 'o' shape and she tried to smile through her tears.

'Well, I hope you do tell her soon. Our Hermione doesn't forgive and forget easily.'

'Yeah, I know.' All three of us smiled. 'This is Dobby. He's going to take you to where Hermione and her friends escaped to several days ago. I don't know the location, but I know that it's a safe place. Hermione may no longer be there, but the wizards in charge will know who you are and take care of you. Don't leave until the war is over.' Dobby apparated into the cell and Mr and Mrs Granger hugged each other in a good luck.

'Shall I tell Hermione about you?'

'No, she might come and find me, and that can't happen. Not yet.' They nodded, trying to understand. 'Have a safe trip.' I scourified their clothes with my mother's wand. 'The apparation might make you feel a little sick, but just sit down for a few minutes before doing anything.' They both shook my hand before taking Dobby's.

'Thank you, Draco. I hope to see you again someday: our daughter is lucky to have someone who goes to such lengths to protect her and her family.' I smiled at Mr Granger.

'Nice jumper, by the way.' I looked down at my chest to see the Gryffindor jumper that Hermione had given me, and by the time I had looked up, Dobby and Hermione's parents had gone. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I quickly glamoured my jumper and lit a lumos looking into the now empty dungeons.

'Draco!' I turned around and saw my mother. 'What on earth are you doing?'

'I couldn't sleep, so I came to bully the prisoner's, but they've gone!' I tried to sound as shocked as possible. She furrowed her brow and unlocked the door.

'Incednio.' She lit the candles inside with her new wand, and saw that the dungeons were empty. 'We need to go.'

'What?'

'The war. It's about to start. Go and get yourself ready. Be at the front gates in five minutes. We won't wait.' Before I knew what I was doing, I had hugged her. 'Are you okay?'

'Yes.' I ran upstairs and to my Godfather's room, to see that Pansy and Blaise were already inside.

'Have you done it?'

'Done what?'

'Her parents?'

I nodded. 'They're safe.' Snape looked at each of us, all wearing casual clothes. He noticed the glamour charm on my jumper and took it off.

'You need people to like you.' I nodded, looking down at the Gryffindor crest. He pointed his wand at Pansy, and her hair went from black to ginger. Blaise's went from black to brown, then mine changed to dark shade of blonde. I looked at my two best friends, and I barely recognised them.

'He still looks like Draco.' Snape nodded, in agreement with Pansy, and made my skin go a darker shade as opposed to the bright white porcelain that was usually there.

'Better.' Snape glamoured his own hair so it turned light brown, and he glamoured his usual black robes to a light blue with the Ravenclaw logo in the corner. 'Dumbledore has given me special access to apparate onto the Astronomy Tower. Are you all ready?' We nodded and joined hands, landing on the top floor of the Astronomy Tower. 'I'll tell Dumbledore we're here.' Snape sent his patronus off before he turned to us. 'Your glamour charms will probably wear off soon, so renew them when you can. Pansy and Blaise, you've been brilliant students over the years, and if we never meet again, I wish you luck in life.' They nodded and ran off, not before giving me a hug. 'Draco.' He smiled, patted me on the back, then hugged me. That was a new experience.

'Are you okay?'

'Yes. I think what you've got to do in this battle is fairly obvious: stay alive so you can tell Hermione that you love her.'

'I didn't know you cared that much for emotions.'

'I don't, but at your age I made the mistake of not telling someone I loved them. And now I've lost them forever. Yes, fight. Yes, survive. But for the sake of your mental health, find Hermione at all costs.' I nodded and tears had welled up in his eyes.

'Who did you love?' We touched on it lightly, when I helped clean at the potions store cupboard the day it all happened, but we didn't go into it.

'Lily Evans. Harry Potter's mother.' I was about to tell him I didn't expect that. I more of expected it to be my own mother, or Bellatrix, someone in Slytherin. Then again, if you told me in September that I'd be in love with the Gryffindor Princess, I would have sent you to St. Mungo's. I smiled and hugged him once more.

'See you later.'

'Good luck.' And with that, I descended the stairs in search of Hermione.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie** and to my reviewers **elle**(I'll let you in on a secret: I hate sad endings, but that really doesn't mean anything by way of this story… or does it…?), **Draco lover**, **Cobra1902**(Aww, thank you! Read and you'll find out), **little-lestrange**(Ahh right okay. Thanks!), **Booknerdxx**(To be honest, I didn't actually think that chapter was good, but thanks anyway!), **sdrlana21** and **miel04**(Yep, it's almost done. Someone's going to have to die, they can't all survive haha)!

CHAPTER 33-

I raced through the school and ended up at the entrance courtyard with all of the Slytherins and several dozen stone guards. Professor McGonagall was stood there too, telling Professor Slughorn that she had always wanted to do that spell. I stayed to the back of the crowd, as if anyone was going to recognise me, it would be my house.

Through the protection shield they had put up around the school, I could see the death eaters gathering. They all pointed their wands in the air and fired curses towards us, but their spells evaporated on the shield. We were safe. For now. The fourth year Slytherins were at the back, the older ones towards the front. There was a young boy wandering around, looking rather nervous.

'You okay?' He nodded, and I recognised him as the boy I had the conversation with about promoting inter-house unity after the quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. 'Do you remember me?'

'I think so…' At least the glamour charm was working to some extent.

'I gave you thirty sickles to be nice to Gryffindors.' He nodded eagerly, remembering. 'What made you want to fight on the light side?'

'After I became friends with a few of them, they didn't seem that bad, and I got more people doing it. I know you disappeared, so I didn't get paid, but I got most people in the house doing it.' I smiled at him. Whilst I'd been away, the school had been united. 'I'm really scared. What if I die?'

'You'll be fine. Shouldn't you be in the room of requirement though? I heard anyone in years one to four were to go home. You're only a first year.'

'I didn't want to go. I love school.' I smiled at his determination to stay.

'Come on, you're going home.' I steered him through the school up to the room of requirement and handed him to one of the Professors who was getting everybody through a portrait. 'Another one for you.'

'Ah, thank you, Mr…?' I smiled and began to run off back to the courtyard when I heard an exploding sound, telling me that the death eaters had broken the shield and were entering the school. I ran even faster, and by the time I got to the courtyard, it was in complete chaos: spells were flying everywhere, parts of the windows and masonry were missing, rubble and dirt were strewn across the flagstones, and dead bodies were already present. A giant was swinging around a massive tree trunk, until another giant, presumably on the opposite side, pushed him off the bridge.

'Thank you, Grawp.' I saw the headmaster smiling up at the giant, but he quickly turned to look at the fast approaching fleet of Dementors. Dumbledore ran forwards and pointed his wand towards them. 'Expecto Patronum!' A bright blue light shot out of the end of his wand and a phoenix soared gracefully over the crowd, sending them backwards, knocking many of them down into the valley that surrounded the school.

I began to fight, and pretty soon a death eater had me walking backwards into the school as he aimed spells at me. I blocked them all, apart from the incendio that had singed my left hand and the arm of my jumper. We began to fight on the stairs, and the blood that had already spilt on the marble steps distracted him. I cast the killing curse and he was gone. My heart slowed down a little. I had just killed somebody. I looked down at my wand, expecting to see blood there, as if it were a knife, but there was nothing.

I didn't have any time for contemplation due to the blood-curdling scream that ripped straight through my thoughts. I spun around and amid the chaos, I saw Hermione backed against the wall at the top of the stairs. My heart stopped at the sight of her, but a shot of adrenaline was pumped into my veins when I saw Viktor Krum with his wand aimed at her, muttering something in Bulgarian to her. Tears were streaming down her face, and she shaking her head, so he was obviously saying horrible things to her.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had ran up the stairs, aimed my wand at Krum's back and spoken the killing curse once more, this time not caring what effect it played on my conscious. He fell forwards, and Hermione looked up at me through her tears. Her eyes were wide and full of fear, and I couldn't decide what to do. Should I tell her now? She stared at me, her head tilted to one side a little, like she did when she thought about something. I was about to step forward and tell her everything, but Neville Longbottom ran up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up the next set of stairs after him. She cast a glance back at me, and that was all I needed to run after them. They managed to get to the third floor landing by the time I was on second, but the wall by me exploded, and direct access to the them was cut off.

I swore and ran to back down a set of stairs, then went to my right and ran through the first floor of the school, across the stone bridge and into the Transfiguration courtyard, sending curses to any death eaters that I came across. I ran up the stairs and onto the second floor before stopping and trying to catch my breath. I leant against the wall for support, and looked around. This part of the school had barely been touched. A window had been smashed, but that was it. Nobody was around and I saw the library doors up ahead of me. _Hermione would kill anyone who touched her precious library. _I checked inside briefly to make sure no one was around and cast a protection spell on the room so it would stay preserved for a little longer. I smiled to myself, but my happiness was cut short as soon as I turned around.

'Draco.'

'Astoria.'

Great. The glamour charm must be wearing off. 'We left without you. Why are you-' She looked at my jumper, and the realisation finally dawned her face. 'You're a spy.'

'Of course I'm a spy. What Voldemort wants for the world is wrong.' I forgot about the taboo for a second, but nothing happened: I guess people everywhere would be saying his name by now.

'Why did you betray us? We're fighting for what is right! Blood purity! Do you know what Voldemort's first act will be when he wins this war? To rid the world of all muggles and mudbloods.' I narrowed my eyes at her, wanting to kill her. 'Yeah, that includes your precious Hermione, too. Don't think I haven't noticed, or anyone hasn't noticed for that matter. You stare at each constantly, spend your entire time in the Heads common room together: it makes me sick just to think about you touching and kissing her, making you so unclean when you're practically the purest man alive. She's nothing but a pathetic mudblood.' Astoria hissed. I slapped her, and saw the imprint of my hand on her cheek. She reached for my arm, but I flinched away from her.

'What's wrong with you? Has she used some potion to make you sick or something?'

I smirked at her, disgusted at her arrogance. 'No. Voldemort's ideas made me sick. Then Hermione came along and showed me everything good in the world and all I could be. And I slowly got better. You're the one who's sick. You think that you're so good, just because of your blood, but Hermione is worth ten of you: always has been, always will be. And you know one of the brilliant things about her? She's a muggleborn, and she is the brightest and one of the most powerful witches ever. That's what it means to be able to wield magic, to be put down because of who you are, but to come out the other side, still fighting. You're the one who's pathetic.' She shook her head, disbelieving me. I took the chance whilst she was off guard and raised my wand to her. 'Avada Kedavra!' She gasped then fell to the floor in front of me. I levitated her body up to the third floor, not wanting her body littering Hermione's way to the library.

A death eater appeared in front of me and we began to battle up the stairs towards the defence against the dark arts classroom. Just when I had him pinned up against the classroom door, ready to prescribe him the killing blow, I heard a hissing sound, and by the look on the man's face, I know he did too.

"_You have fought valiantly, but has been in vain. A lot a magical blood has been spilt tonight: a tragic waste. I order my army to retreat. You have one hour to dispose of your dead with dignity. Harry Potter, I now speak directly to you. On this night, you have let your friends die for you: a great dishonour. Meet me in the Forbidden Forest alone to confront your fate. If you do not, every man, woman and child who try to conceal you from me shall die."_

The hissing stopped and the man I was holding against the door apparated away. I sighed and walked back the way I had come on my way to find Hermione. The general flow of people began to head towards the great hall. I stood outside of the hall for a few minutes, but after a several bodies on a stretchers passed me, I headed outside, into the entrance courtyard. I sat on a low down wall, which had probably had been 10 foot before until some had decided to cast reducto on it.

How many people had I killed tonight? Too many. The real total was probably only about ten, but to have to kill anybody was more than enough for me. To be honest, slapping Astoria was all I really wanted to achieve since the day she decided that we would be together. I sighed and kicked some rubble around with my shoe. I couldn't have gone in the Great Hall. They were taking all of the dead bodies there. What if I saw Hermione's body? I shook the thought from my head: I wasn't mentally ready to think about that.

I looked across the courtyard and saw Neville, picking up a hat out of the rubble. I considered for a brief moment about going over there and having a go at him for taking Hermione away from me, and with it possibly the only chance I had to tell her that truth. I forgot the thought as soon as it surfaced: why should he have any reason to believe I cared about her? Besides, the glamour charm had worn off, and he would hex me into oblivion as soon as he saw me. I looked down at my hands to see my almost translucent skin, and pulled down a strand of my hair to see that platinum blond graced my head once again.

I don't know how long I was sat there, but after a while, all of the death eaters and Voldemort himself began to walk down the bridge that entered into Hogwarts. There was a half-giant with them, tied up in ropes, carrying a boy with jet black hair and glasses. He seemed lifeless in the giant's arms. I stood up, not wanting to believe what I was seeing.

The army I was on flooded out of the school, headed by Ginny Weasley and her father, who confirmed what I was hoping wasn't true. 'Who's that Hagrid's carrying? Is it…? No… Harry!' She began to run forwards towards him, but her father held her back as she wailed for the loss of the man she loved. 'I hate you!' She screamed at Voldemort, but he simply waved his wand at her, casting silencio.

'Be quiet, you stupid girl!' All of the death eaters laughed in encouragement apart from two, stood directly in the centre, their platinum blond hair standing out above the rest: my parents. They both looked dead, but luckily, weren't. I considered looking around for the other person I loved, but I knew it would cause me too much pain if I couldn't find her, so I decided to keep my eyes trained on Voldemort.

'Anyone care to swap sides? Harry Potter's dead: the battle's over. You have no leader, no hope. But follow me now, and I shall spare your life.' His black eyes grazed over the light side. 'There were a few people missing when we apparated from the Manor…' All of a sudden, his eyes locked onto mine. 'Joining us, Draco?' Everyone turned to me and I slowly made me way forwards towards Voldemort. I stopped midway between the light side and his outstretched hand.

'Take it off him.'

'I'm sorry?'

'Take off the Imperius curse that you have put on my father. He never used to be like this. He never would have laid a finger on me, my mother or my sister if you hadn't been around. Take. It. Off. Him. Now.' Voldemort clenched his jaw shut and flicked his wand, and my dad collapsed into my mum. He looked up at her, clearly confused as to what was happening. She smiled quietly at him, and held him up. I held out my hand to them.

'Come on. You know this is right.' They staggered towards me across the courtyard, and Bellatrix let out a stream of swear words to their retreating backs.

'Where's Astrid?' My dad looked between me and my mum, and her eyes brimmed with tears.

'Later, Lucius.' He nodded, and they kept their arms securely around each other, and my mother held my hand limply in hers.

Voldemort sneered at me and my family. 'I was right. Your loyalties did lie elsewhere. No wonder why you didn't complete the mission I gave you.'

'I was not going to kill Hermione!' Everyone gasped behind me. 'I couldn't possibly do that, not with the way I feel about her.' People on both sides began to mutter between themselves, then a soft voice called out to me, and I instantly knew who it was without even having to look.

'Draco?'

**A/N: **Any guesses for who says the last line? There's not a prize, so don't worry about it. Anyway, two things:

I realised the other day that the elder wand story would not fit in with this fan fiction since Draco hasn't disarmed Dumbledore, so I've made a change to chapter 23, and Draco will disarm Dumbledore in his office after he ends his relationship with Hermione. And Voldemort will somehow get it into his head that Snape is somehow the true owner of the wand; so before someone points this out to me, I already know. You don't have to go and re-read chapter 23, I just thought you should know.

I'm in my first year at college and we've got to start thinking about our university applications pretty soon, and I'm thinking about doing a creative writing course as I really want to be an author/journalist, but I haven't had really had anyone read my work apart from you guys, so I'm not sure if I should apply for it. So if you're going to review, could you just say whether or not you think I'd be good enough or if not what I need to work on? Thanks!

**hazelsherlock **x


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: **Thank you to my beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **Booknerdxx** (Thanks!), **shaymars**, **judy12** (I know Harry was the only one to hear that, but I wanted to include it anyway so everyone knew what was happening. Yeah, it was Hermione), **elle** (You weren't in love with him already?! xx), **Alison-Fire** (Thanks!), the person on the **Guest **account, **StarrPrincessCupcake21 **(Thank you!), **Dramioneforever**, **guardfan08 **(It doesn't matter as long as you're enjoying it!) and **little-lestrange** (Haha thanks)! Also thanks to anyone who said I should go for the English course: I definitely will! Like the previous chapter, this has lines taken from the film, so if it sounds familiar, it's because it is. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 34-

I sat in the Great Hall, surrounded by dead bodies. So many on our side had fallen, and I couldn't bear to look at the bodies. I sat on the table at the back, where the teachers usually sat at mealtimes, with my head turned to the floor.

We fought back the mass of death eaters who stormed out of the forest in a waves, but they began to battle their way into the school. Ginny turned to me and Neville and shouted 'Hermione! Neville! Go into the school and get some back up!'

'Are you sure?'

'Just go! We can hold them for a bit longer.' Me and Neville ran off at Ginny's command, and by the time we got to the fourth floor landing on the grand staircase, we decided to part ways.

'Go onto the third floor and see if you can find anyone. I'll go down to the entrance courtyard and see if I can get some Slytherins.' He nodded and I began to run down the stairs. I could see the death eaters pouring into the entrance hall, the Slytherins trying to hold them off. I stopped on the first floor landing and watched the fighting before me for a moment, suddenly feeling very guilty that I practically talked the Slytherins into killing their parents tonight.

All of a sudden, someone threw me against the wall behind me. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes, wondering how I didn't see the approach of this person. What I saw before me made me wish that I hadn't bothered getting up this morning. Viktor Krum was towering over me, a sick snarl on his face that made me want to throw up.

'Krum!' He grinned wildly and muttered something in Bulgarian. It was too quiet for me to hear what he was saying, but the look in his eyes told me it was something horrible. A few tears slipped down my cheeks as the memories of that night came flooding back to me, the ones I had tried so hard to forget. I shook my head, trying to expel them.

'So where's your precious Draco now to save you?' I recoiled as he took a step towards me and I braced myself, ready for him to kill me, as I knew I wasn't mentally strong to defend myself, even though I was clutching my wand tightly in my hand. There was a bright shot of green light, and within a heartbeat, I had convinced myself that I was dead. Krum's eyes rolled in his sockets and he fell backwards, to reveal a boy with dirty blonde hair and tanned skin. He looked the same age as me and was wearing a Gryffindor jumper, but I didn't remember seeing him in the common room. I looked at him more closely, tilting my head to one side. He seemed strangely familiar, like I had seen his face before, but I couldn't quite put a name to it.

He looked like he was about to walk towards me, but before he could, Neville had appeared and grabbed my wrist, and began to drag me up the stairs. I turned my head to look at the boy again, and he began to run after us. I was about to tell Neville to stop, but the wall between us and the boy who had saved my life had been cut off. We carried on running, fighting death eaters as we went. We got up to the seventh floor, and we stopped to catch our breath, due to the small amount of death eaters up there.

'Did you find back up?' He shook his head.

'We're already stretched as it is.' I nodded and we both lent against the wall. We heard footsteps and drew our wands, but when Ron and Lavender came around the corner, we placed them back in our pockets. 'What are you grinning at?'

'We destroyed the cup.'

'How?'

'With these.' Ron took several basilisk fangs out of his pocket. I smiled and hugged him.

'You're a genius, Ronald!' He looked at me strangely. 'Don't expect me saying that every day.' He nodded, understanding now. Ron and Lavender kissed and I grimaced, trying not to think about Draco. We stood there for a few minutes more, catching our breath, then a cold voice entered the air around us.

"_You have fought valiantly, but has been in vain. A lot a magical blood has been spilt tonight: a tragic waste. I order my army to retreat. You have one hour to dispose of your dead with dignity. Harry Potter, I now speak directly to you. On this night, you have let your friends die for you: a great dishonour. Meet me in the Forbidden Forest alone to confront your fate. If you do not, every man, woman and child who try to conceal you from me shall die."_

I felt very cold and looked at the other three. 'Harry can't do that. He can't give himself him up. Not now. Not ever. We've worked too hard to not see Voldemort dead.' Ron agreed with me, and suggested we go to the Great Hall, as it was the only room big enough in the school to hold everybody.

So I was sat there, on the heads table, not ready to look at the dead. I lifted my head up anyway and looked out over everyone. Professor Slughorn was sat next to Dean Thomas on the Slytherin table, who had Seamus Finnegan's dying body in between them. They were feeding him potions, but by the looks on their faces, they knew their attempts were futile.

Over at the Hufflepuff table sat Professor Trelawney, along with Lavender and Padma. Padma was crying, and Lavender didn't look much better. They were both looking down at Pavarti's lifeless form, which was partially covered by a blanket. Trelawney held two fingers to the young girl's neck, then she withdrew them. 'She's gone.' The divination professor put the blanket over the whole body, and Lavender and Padma hugged tightly: one losing a twin, the other losing a best friend. They cried together, and their favourite professor tried to console them both.

I got up to help: you don't go from sharing a dormitory with someone for six years to not caring when they die. I began to make my way over to them, but two bodies on the floor by the Gryffindor table caught my eye. One had purple hair, and the other was wearing a cardigan: Tonks and Lupin. I knelt down beside the couple. They had just had a baby: poor Teddy. Their hands were almost touching, and a lump formed in my throat.

It was so sad. So beautiful.

So tragic.

The whole scene was tragic. Why did Voldemort do this? Wasn't ruining Harry's life enough for him? I shook my head and looked at their hands once more. It reminded me of Draco. I knew he didn't care, but we had been so close together at Malfoy Manor, even though it seemed like we were barely touching. I loved him, and I didn't know how to stop. I reached out and put their hands together. I stayed for a few more moments with my thoughts, until a howling sound interrupted them.

I got up and walked towards the front of the hall, passing by the dead bodies of Colin Creevey, Millicent Bulstrode and Mad Eye Moody. By the doors, and saw Molly Weasley, holding Fred in her arms. George was knelt down as well, his father's hand on his shoulder. Fleur was trying to console Ginny, and I would have tried to help too; not just Ginny, any of the Weasley clan, but the sense of loss and putrid smell of death finally broke me down and I ran out of the hall crying.

I went up two flights of stairs and saw Ron sat on the first floor landing, looking at the blood that had seeped into the crevices in the stone steps. 'Ron… I'm so sorry…' He shrugged, trying to make light of a bad situation.

'If part of anyone's family was going to die tonight, it was going to be a Weasley. There are so many of us.' I ran to him and we hugged, both crying. We sat on the steps, waiting for the tears to subside. 'Where's Lavender?'

'In the hall with Padma and Trelawney. Pavarti's just died.' Ron let a breath of air and nodded.

'I need to go and tell Lavender that I love her.' I nodded, wishing I could tell that to Draco, even if it was unrequited. 'Hermione, I need to tell you something.' I looked at Ron, and saw his eyes were ridden with guilt.

'What is it?'

'It's about Dr- Harry!' I turned to look in the direction of Ron's eye focus, and saw my other best friend walking down the stairs towards us. 'Where have you been, mate?' Ron asked as we both stood up.

'Dumbledore's office.'

'I thought you went to the forest.' Harry sighed.

'That's where I'm going now. I just came to say goodbye. Will you tell Ginny that I love her? I would do it myself, but I know as soon as I see her I won't be able to do this.'

'Harry, you can't do this!' I began to cry and he hugged me. I cried even harder as I began to realise the meaning of everything I had seen tonight: there was no point in life without love, not without Draco. That fuelled what I said next. 'I'll go with you.'

'No.' He held me at arm's length. 'Kill Nagini, then kill him. It's the only way.' He hugged Ron, then stepped backwards. 'See you later.' He ran off back up the stairs so he could get to the clockwork tower, and even though we shouted him not to do it, he didn't even glance back at us. We sat back down on the stairs again, and Ron gave me a basilisk fang.

'In case you get closer to Nagini then I do.' I nodded and put it in my pocket. We sat there for a while longer before heading back into the hall, where Ron told Lavender that he loved her. I wandered around feeling helpless, and I eventually came around to the Slytherin table and sat down on the seating bench. I looked across to the other side of the hall, and after about five seconds, I realised that this was where Draco sat. I sighed and put my head down on the table. Soon, everyone began to leave the hall, and I followed, being one of the last people to go. I leant against the oak doors, and watched Hagrid walk alongside Voldemort and the rest of the death eaters, who was carrying Harry limply in his strong arms. It began to process slowly in my mind. _Harry was dead. _

_Dead._

_DEAD._

I heard Ginny's voice, and I guessed she was at the front. 'Who's that Hagrid's carrying? Is it…? No… Harry!' She began to run at Voldemort, but Mr Weasley restrained his daughter. She cried out, and I suddenly began to wonder what it would be like if Draco was dead. I shook my head, not being able to even physically think about that. 'I hate you!' He simply smiled and cast silencio.

'Be quiet, you stupid girl!' The death eaters cackled with delight, and I squirmed slightly at the joy they were taking in killing a person. Of course I too had killed tonight, and even thought they were bad people, I still regretted it.

'Anyone care to swap sides? Harry Potter's dead: the battle's over. You have no leader, no hope. But follow me now, and I shall spare your life.' He narrowed his eyes and paced a little, looking over each of us in turn. 'There were a few people missing when we apparated from the Manor… Joining us, Draco?' My breath caught in my throat. _Draco. _Draco was here. On the light side. So he didn't betray us. He really was a spy for us. If what he told me about being a spy for Voldemort was lie then, surely he lied about everything else he told me on that day. Hope began to rise within me and I saw the man I was in love with emerge from our army. He walked towards Voldemort and I shook my head slowly. _No, you can't. Turn around. _He stopped midway between the light side and Voldemort's outstretched hand.

'Take it off him.'

'I'm sorry?' Voldemort looked confused.

'Take off the Imperius curse that you have put on my father. He never used to be like this. He never would have laid a finger on me, my mother or my sister if you hadn't been around. Take. It. Off. Him. Now.' I let out a quiet sigh of relief. He was staying loyal to us. I began to make my way through the crowd so I could get a better look at what was happening.

Voldemort flicked his wand, and I saw Lucius Malfoy crumple into his wife, and she held him up. Draco held out his hand to his family. I began to try and move forwards quicker, but everyone seemed almost paralysed to the spot at what they were witnessing. 'Come on. You know this is right.' They stumbled across the entrance courtyard towards their son, and Bellatrix began to scream and curse at them.

Lucius asked Narcissa something, but she just shook her head, and they made sure that they were holding each other up securely before Narcissa reached out and held Draco's hand softly.

Voldemort looked disgusted at the reunited family and snarled at them. 'I was right. Your loyalties did lie elsewhere. No wonder why you didn't complete the mission I gave you.'

'I was not going to kill Hermione!' Draco shouted, and the light side gasped. 'I couldn't possibly do that, not with the way I feel about her.' People on both sides began to mutter between themselves as I fought my way to the front where I called out to him, my heart beating a little louder.

'Draco?'

He spun around and his hand fell out of his mother's. He looked breathless at the sight of me. He looked tired and beaten, like he hadn't had a proper night's sleep. I saw he was wearing the Gryffindor jumper I gave him. His silver eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly ajar. The butterflies rose in my stomach, and the tears began to roll down my cheeks. We both took a step closer to each other, and I suddenly remembered how I loved to run my fingers through his platinum blonde hair when we kissed, and his smell after a shower, and the warm body beside me when I woke up.

'I'm so sorry, Hermione.'

'I forgive you.' We ran to each other and hugged tightly. He was hurting me, but I knew I was probably hurting him too. I didn't care. I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes.

'I love you, Hermione.' My heart stopped for a few seconds before going into overdrive.

'I love you too, Draco.' He smiled and kissed me, and it was by the far the sweetest kiss that I had ever received or tasted. I grabbed his hair in fistfuls and pulled him closer to me. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me flush against his body. It wasn't until we pulled away that we realised everyone had been watching.

'I quote "You need to tell her that you love her."' Voldemort cackled, and so did the majority of the death eaters. 'Professor Burbage wasted her last words on two teenagers. One a blood traitor, the other a filthy little mudblood.'

'Don't you dare call her that!' Draco withdrew his wand and shouted at him, pulling me behind him. Me, Draco and his parents slowly backed away, so we now stood with the light side.

'Anyone else care to swap sides?' I held on tightly to Draco's hand, hoping no one else would pull a stunt similar to his. After a few seconds, Neville began to limp forwards, holding a hat. I squeezed Draco's hand, and he squeezed it back, telling me that he wasn't disappearing anytime soon. 'Well, I hoped for better.' The death eaters laughed, and Neville stopped in the same place Draco had been just moments before. I watched Nagini slither around Voldemort's bare, mangled feet, and I remembered the Basilisk fang in my pocket.

When the laughter died down, Neville spoke. 'I'd like to say something.' Voldemort nodded, giving him permission to speak. 'A lot of people died tonight.' Ginny, who was now stood nearer to me, sniffed and her dad put an arm around her. 'But people die every day. Yeah, we lost Harry. And Fred. And Tonks and Remus and countless others tonight. But they'll live on. In here.' Neville pointed to his own heart and I stepped closer to Draco. 'They didn't die in vain. But you will!' Voldemort smirked. 'Because you're wrong!' By some miracle, Neville reached into the hat he was holding and withdrew the sword of Godric Gryffindor. He ran at Nagini at tried to kill her with it. At the same time, I saw Harry leap out of Hagrid's arms and begin to run towards his army. The death eaters began to fight with us once more, and Draco turned to his mum.

'Dad shouldn't be here, he's not well enough to fight, not now that the curse has been lifted. You know where the room of requirement is, right?' His mother nodded and I began to speak.

'Take him up there. Think the Hogs Head Inn. There's a portrait of a girl at the back of the room. Make him go through there, and tell him to apparate to 79 Moss Lane. It's where my parents live.'

'Have you got that, Lucius?' Narcissa asked as we began to help him into the castle, at the same time everyone else was trying to get inside it.

'79 Moss Lane. Who lives there?'

'My parents. I know you hate muggles, and muggleborns, but they'll understand once you explain everything to them and look after you until this is all over.'

'I hate to break it to you,' Lucius said hoarsely as we began a slow ascent of the stairs. 'but your parents are-'

'I freed them. They should be home by now.' Draco threw a spell over his shoulder at an approaching death eater. 'Now go!' Lucius and Narcissa picked up a little speed and began to go to the seventh floor, using the first portrait passage they came to.

'What was that about my parents?'

'It's nothing, really. It can wait.'

'Like hell it can wait!' I grabbed his hand and yanked him up the stairs to the Heads dormitory. The portrait door was open, as Al must have fled a long time ago. I don't know what I was thinking. The middle of the war wasn't exactly the place I wanted to do this, but I needed my head clearing before I could go back out there and fight again. I dragged him down onto the loveseat.

'You want to do this now, Hermione?'

I nodded. 'I can't think about anything else.' A few tears rolled down my cheeks, and I realised just how much I needed to hear this. He wiped them away with his jumper sleeve and held me as he told me everything that had happened since the day he was given the mission of killing me, from Ron putting him under the Imperius curse to freeing my parents from the dungeons at Malfoy Manor.

'I'm so sorry for everything, Hermione.'

'It doesn't matter anymore. I have you. That's the only thing that matters.' We both smiled and I kissed Draco. He placed his hands on my back and settled me on his knee. We probably shouldn't have been doing this either, but it had been so long without him, I don't think I was ready yet to even lose skin contact. And we probably would have carried on doing that if all of the windows hadn't smashed. Draco sheltered me with his strong body, and we both squeezed our eyes shut. I felt blood land on my face, and I knew Draco must have got cut by some of the glass. He wiped it away and I quickly healed the cut on his cheek with my wand.

'Are you okay?' He asked. I was about to nod when I saw Nagini sliver in through the portrait door.

'Draco…' He looked to where I was staring and saw the snake. From the love seat, we began firing spells at the horcrux, but Voldemort would have probably put a protection charm on her, due to the amount of horcruxes me, Harry and Ron had been destroying recently. We backed as far as we could into the love seat, and when Nagini got close enough, I handed the basilisk fang to Draco and told him to kill it using that. He tried, but the serpent snapped it out his hands, and Draco cradled me into his chest as we both knew that we were probably going to die here, on a love seat in the dormitory that we had been sharing from September.

All of sudden, Neville burst in through the door and sliced of Nagini's head with the sword of Gryffindor. He stared at us, breathless. 'What the hell are you doing in here?!' I opened my mouth to explain, but Neville just shook his head. 'We need more help, even if it is just you two.' He ran out of the room again and I looked at Draco.

'How do you fancy flying?'

'As long as I'm with you, I'm safe.' He smiled softly and removed a stray hair from my face back into my ponytail before accioing his broom. We both jumped on it, but he was facing the normal way, whilst I leant against him back to back, so we could attack from all sides.

'Are you sure you don't want to face the other way? It can make me feel quite sick flying backwards, and I'm experienced.'

'It's fine. I don't know how to control a broom anyway, so I won't ask you to do it backwards.' We both smiled and kissed before Draco kicked off the ground and flew out of the "open" window. We flew over the entrance courtyard, to find it deserted. 'Go to the clockwork courtyard!' I shouted. I felt his head nod against mine, and soon we were flying over a battle scene. We began firing curses everywhere, and our height gave us an untouchable tactic. I looked down at the ground more closely, trying to identify who was a death eater, and I saw someone on the floor, who looked like he was eating someone's neck. 'Fly closer to the ground.'

'Hermione-'

'Please!' Draco compiled and I hexed the person who had been eating the flesh. Fenrir Greyback looked astounded as he flipped over through the air, but not as astounded as I was when I saw that he had been sucking the blood out of Lavender's lifeless body. I gasped and shouted to Ron, who wasn't far away. The red-head, who had already lost so much, looked up at me. I pointed to Lavender's dead body, and his face filled with rage as he saw Greyback, going back for more of his prized liquid. Ron shouted the killing curse as loud as he possibly could, and as soon as Greyback fell to the floor, my best friend ran to his girlfriend's body. He tried numerous healing spells on her neck, but nothing was working. He punched the cobbled paving, and by the looks of thing, he broke his hand.

'Whoa!' A hex was fired our way, but luckily Draco dodged it and flew into the school.

'What the hell are you doing? Do you know how many school rules we are breaking by flying through the corridors?!' I cried incredulously at him.

'I think the rule book went out of the window the moment Lord Voldemort brought his army out on a field trip to Hogwarts!' He screamed back at me. I had no idea why I'd said that. I suppose the war brings out strange things in you. We flew through the school, cursing any death eaters that we saw. We eventually arrived at the Great Hall, just in time to see Bellatrix die on top of the Ravenclaw table at the hands of Molly Weasley. I smiled and helped to kill the last of the death eaters in the Great Hall, and as soon as we did, a cheer went up. The light side prepared to go both ways out of the oak doors, ready to find more, but everyone stopped dead in their tracks when we saw Harry stood in the entrance hall.

'It's over. Voldemort's dead. Mr Weasley, can you please use legilimency to spread the word: I'm not very good at that spell.' The Ministry Official smiled weakly at his surrogate son and did as he had asked. Draco slowly descended to the floor, and we both dismounted his broom. Harry got Kingsley to take a troupe of students to round up the death eaters that remained and take them to Azkaban, whilst he instructed everyone else to help the injured.

* * *

Me and Draco sat on top of the Gryffindor table, and I tended to the cuts he had, as well as the burn on his arm, and he did the same for me. 'I love you, you know.'

'I know. I love you too.' He smiled and kissed me softly, avoiding the cut on my lip that I had acquired in the second half of the battle. He finished cleaning up the last cut on my face, then pulled me onto his knee. We sat there in silence for a while, until his mother walked up to us. I felt a little uncomfortable, but her gaze was soft, not filled with hatred, as I had expected it to be.

'Draco, your father got to the house safely. I'm going to visit him after I've helped clear up a bit: it's the least I can do.' Filch walked past us, carrying a broom, and began to sweep up some rubble, and we all began to laugh. 'Hermione.' I looked up at Narcissa Malfoy and held onto Draco tightly. 'I'm sorry for everything that our family has put you through, especially that dreadful business back at the Manor.'

'Oh, it's fine. I don't even have a scar. Draco used a glamour charm.' I rolled up the sleeve of my jumper and denim jacket to show her the untouched skin, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

'I always suspected you two were together.'

'No, you did not, mum.' Narcissa laughed and ruffled her son's hair, like he was five. He squirmed slightly.

'It was obvious from that Daily Prophet issue on Christmas day, with the cute picture of you two on the front cover. If you really didn't want that picture taken, you could have just walked away: I think you both knew that. Besides, I found the Gryffindor jumper in your bedroom one day. And you just coincidentally happen to be in the dungeons at the same time Hermione's parents disappear? I've known for a while now.'

Narcissa began to walk away, but Draco called out to her. 'Mum! I forgot to tell you! I kind of killed my fiancée.'

'Your fiancée?!' I shouted.

'Voldemort made me get engaged to Astoria.' I pulled a face at the thought that she had been anywhere near my Draco. 'But that hide and seek game we had was fun: I never did find her…' Draco's mother shrugged.

'I wasn't going to make you marry her even if Voldemort won this war.' She went away to help Madame Pomfrey, who instantly recognised her from her school years. They were about the same age, so they must have been at Hogwarts at the same time.

'Mum used to be a healer at St. Mungo's. Maybe you could ask her for some tips.' I smiled.

'I will, just not right now. Let's go for a walk.' I took his hand and we walked through the hall. A few people stared at us, but most people were too busy to care. I saw Neville and Luna sat on the Ravenclaw table, holding hands. That was long overdue. Luna looked up at me and opened her mouth worriedly. I nodded, telling her that I forgave her for what she had done. She smiled shyly at me and kissed Neville.

We walked into the entrance hall, planning on going outside, but a half-giant blocked our path. 'I need a word with you, Draco Malfoy.' Hagrid looked down at Draco and I tried not to laugh.

'Ermmm… what is it?'

'Break her heart and I'll get a hippogriff to do more than hurt your arm this time.' Draco nodded, evidently worried. Hagrid walked off, satisfied that his warning had got through. I smirked and Draco shook his head.

'Harry!' I shouted, and we both ran over to the Boy-Who-Lived.

'Are you alright, mate?'

'Mate?' Draco recoiled slightly at Harry's venomous tone.

'Sorry, just a slip of the tongue.' After a few awkward seconds, Harry's face broke out in a grin.

'Not a problem. Mate. I don't want the details of why you did what you did with Hermione, but as long as you're happy together, I'm cool with it. I heard your love professions in the courtyard, and believed them word for word. The kiss however… Neville told me it made him want to throw up. I'm kind of glad I still had my eyes closed for that moment.' We all laughed. 'I need to find Dumbledore. I have an enquiry to make about a certain wand.' He smiled at us and walked off outside briskly. We followed, but slower.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were sat on a bench, their arms around each other. 'Al was right.' Draco whispered. I smiled at him. Harry marched over to Dumbledore, exchanged a few words, and Dumbledore took his wand out of his robes and handed it over to Harry. Harry walked down the bridge, towards a figure, who looked very lost and alone. Ron. They began to argue, then Harry snapped the wand in half, and through each half over either side of the bridge. 'What was that about?'

'I have no idea.'

'Well, that's certainly a first.' I wacked him lightly and he laughed, putting his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Ginny ran out of the castle and stopped when she saw us. She smiled at us, then carried on running towards Harry. He embraced her when he saw his girlfriend. 'You know, I didn't ask you, but will you be my girlfriend again?'

'I don't think we ever really broke up, not in our hearts.' He smiled and kissed my forehead, holding me even tighter to his chest.

I watched Ron wander away from his best friend and sister. He had lost Lavender, the girl he had loved. That could have been me, mourning silently for Draco. But now that I was finally in his arms, I wasn't ever letting go.

**A/N:** So, hope you enjoyed that. There is still one more chapter to go, but until then, I have written a one shot that follows on from this story. It's basically fluff between Hermione and Draco quite a while after the war. I'm putting it up after this one has been uploaded, but because it's a new story, I'm not sure when it'll appear. But it's called **The Proposal**, so just check on my profile if you're interested :)


	35. 19 Years Later

**A/N: **It's the final chapter: seriously going to miss writing this one :'( Anyway, thank you to me beta **DarkeFairie **and to my reviewers **Iudemon02** (It's on my profile if you want to read it), **Devilish Dream **(Thank you!), **elle **(Haha xxx), **Horcruxes** (Glad you're enjoying it), **fantasia-49** (I think that the majority of non-Dramione shippers would disagree with you, but it's an honour to hear someone say that!), **Booknerdxx **(Haha I will write more Dramione: don't despair!) and **HaterJo**! Just before you get started on this one, I've changed a few of the character's ages: Lily and James and twins and are in fourth year with Scorpius. Rose is in second year (Ron's daughter, not Hermione's though), Albus is about to start his first year, as is Hugo (Again, not Ron's son but not Hermione's) and my own character. Everything else is pretty much the same.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 35– 19 years later…

We arrived at Kings Cross Station ready for the new school year. Scorpius walked ahead with his luggage loaded up onto his trolley, and Draco walked with him pushing our daughter's trolley. I was being dragged behind by Astrid, who was clinging on to my arm as we walked forwards. I didn't see why she was so frightened. I had told her so many wonderful stories about Hogwarts, and she had always been jealous of Scorpius being older than her as he could go before her. She had been so excited this summer too, but within the last week, she became so nervous that she hadn't eaten or slept properly, she didn't speak much, and she had pretty much stopped reading.

'Astrid, I can't run through a wall with you dragging me backwards. We'll talk when we get on the platform, okay?' She nodded and slipped her tight hold down to my hand instead. Scorpius ran through first, then Draco, then me and Astrid together. I smiled when I saw the Hogwarts Express, gleaming in the September sunlight. Students from every year and their parents were running around everywhere, and Draco touched my arm gently to get my attention.

'Scorpius and I are just going to get the luggage sorted out, but there's a while before they need to get on the train anyway.' I nodded and smiled at him, and he left with our son and the two trollies.

'Hermione!' I turned around to see Harry, Ron and Ginny waving at me, and I walked over to them. 'How are you?'

'Fine, thanks. How does Albus feel about starting today?'

'Excited. James is already telling him where the secret passages are.' I smiled and shook my head. 'How's Astrid?'

'Oh, she's so nervous, aren't you, Astrid?' I looked down to see that she was no longer holding my hand. I sighed. 'I should go and find her.' They all nodded and after a few minutes of searching the platform, I found her sat on the floor by one of the walls, almost in tears. I knelt down in front of her and took her hands. 'Oh, Astrid, please tell me what's wrong.' She shook her head and I moved her platinum blonde fringe out of the way of her face so I could see her big brown eyes.

'I'm scared.'

'Of what?'

'I might not make any friends. And I'm not mischievous like Dad is, our courageous like you, or weird, or clever, so I probably won't get into any of the houses!' Her head dropped into her hands as she began to cry and I hugged her.

'You know, I once knew a girl exactly like you, who thought exactly the same on her first day at Hogwarts.'

'Really?' She pulled away from me and wiped her eyes.

'Yes. She didn't think that she was anything special; she liked to read and thought she was bossy and ugly, but despite all of that, she was placed in Gryffindor. She had no friends either, until one day. There was an incident in the girl's toilets, and two boys came to rescue her, who eventually became her best friends. Over the years, she got more and more friends, until she was friends with almost everybody in her year, apart from the Slytherins, who bullied her constantly because she wasn't a pureblood.

'But at the start of seventh year, she was made Head Girl, and had to share a common room with the Head Boy, from Slytherin, who had bullied her from first year. By some miracle, they got along, and then they began to fall in love. Then the Wizarding war came and it tore them apart, but they still longed for one another as every day passed. They were eventually reunited at the battle for Hogwarts, and everyone knows of their story.'

'What happened after that?'

'They got married and had two beautiful children, and are still happy to this day. I don't know how the boy survived for so long without her, but I do know that the only thing that kept the girl sane was a necklace that he had given her: it was a golden serpent with red gemstones in it to represent both of their houses, and she's hardly ever taken it off.'

Astrid reached forwards and lightly touched my necklace. 'But mum, that's exactly the same…' Her eyes widened in realisation. 'You're the girl in the story?!' I nodded.

'I thought I wouldn't make any friends, I thought I was ugly and had no personality, and your Dad and the rest of the Slytherins bullied me. In seventh year we were made Head Boy and Girl and started to fall in love, but Draco had to end it with me or he would've had to kill me due to orders from Voldemort. When we all came back to Hogwarts to fight, Draco made his profession of love for me in front of Lord Voldemort, and then everybody knew. The light side won the war, we got back together, eventually got married and had two brilliant children. Happy endings are possible, Astrid. And I don't think you need reminding that you're named after a very brave little girl.'

Astrid smiled and blushed. 'I know; Aunty Astrid.'

'That's right. And it doesn't matter if you don't get into Gryffindor or Slytherin.'

'But Scorpius says he'll hate me if I don't get into Slytherin like him.'

'He's only joking, you should know that by now. And you will get into a house. You are brave, clever, mischievous, and you do have your weird outbursts occasionally.' She giggled. 'Come on, Albus and Hugo are waiting for you.' I helped her up off the ground and took her over to where Hugo and Albus were talking quietly.

'Is Astrid okay?' I looked around to see that Draco was stood next to me, and Scorpius was leant against a wall.

'Yeah, she was just a bit nervous, but I soon solved that.'

'May I ask how?'

'I told her the story of us.' He smiled and kissed me, and Scorpius groaned in the background.

'Mum, Dad, really? It's so embarrassing. Everyone's staring.'

'No, they're not, Scorpius.' He shook his head and a girl with flame red hair walked past us and smiled shyly at my son.

'Hi, Scorpius.'

'Hey, Lily.' He straightened himself up and stood without the wall's support, running a hand through his brown hair, something he had picked up off Draco.

'I was wondering, do you wanted to sit with me on the train? We haven't spoken much this summer.'

'I can't, sorry. I promised my other friends that I'd sit with them.'

'Oh, okay.' She turned to go, but Scorpius caught her hand gently when he saw how disheartened she looked.

'But I'm free tonight. How about I come and pick you up from the Gryffindor common room at about half seven and we can walk around the castle grounds and catch up?'

'Great. I'll see you later.' She smiled at him, let go of his hand and walked to her giggling group of friends who also had watched the whole exchange.

'Is that going to be his head girl?' Astrid whispered nervously.

'Maybe.' Draco grinned at our daughter, took my hand and squeezed it.

'Shut up, Dad.' Scorpius folded his arms, meaning he didn't want to talk about it. That didn't make Draco stop questioning him though.

'It wasn't me, it was Astrid.' Scorpius rolled his eyes. 'Is she going to be your head girl?' My husband enquired.

'What? Who says I like her? This is Lily Potter we're talking about… sweet, clever, beautiful, kind…' Scorpius shook his head and retained his normal posture against the wall.

'So, you do like her?'

'No. Yes. Maybe.' He sighed. 'Besides, James would kill me if he found out I liked his twin sister.'

'I'm sure he'd be fine with it. You should be more concerned about Harry.' Scorpius' silver eyes went wide when he remembered who Lily's dad was. 'If you're going to make a move this year, you should probably go and ask her parents for permission.' Draco laughed beside me.

'Exactly. Come on, let's go and ask the Chosen One the right to date his daughter.' Draco and Scorpius walked off and I looked down at Astrid to see that she was grinning.

'What are you smiling at?'

'Nothing, mum.' Someone was tugging on my jacket and I turned to look at Albus.

'Does Scorpius love my sister then?'

I laughed. 'I think he's getting there. Would you mind if he and Lily dated?' The 11 year old with black hair shook his hair. 'What about James?' Albus thought for a moment before replying.

'He's going to kill him.'

'Exactly what I thought.' We both smiled as Draco, Harry, Ginny and Ron came towards us with an elated looking Scorpius. 'What's the verdict?' I asked Harry.

'Well, from what I've heard from Lily over the years, your son has been very kind to her despite her being in Gryffindor and him being Slytherin, and it does appear that she may reciprocate his feelings, so, yes, Scorpius can date Lily.'

'Thank you, Mr Potter.' Harry laughed and Ginny drew her wand pointing it at Scorpius, and the look on my son's face held a considerable amount of fear.

'Hurt her and you'll be sorry.'

'O-okay, Mrs Potter.' She smiled and returned her wand back to her pocket, just as James practically leapt on his best friend.

'Scorpius! It's been too long! Sorry about having to go to Romania this summer, but you know how the family are…' They both smirked. 'Do you want to play some Quidditch tonight at about half seven?' Scorpius' smooth facial expression faltered.

'Sorry, I can't.'

'Oh, why not?' Scorpius looked at Harry and Ginny and they both nodded to him.

'I'm having a catch up with Lily. I'm thinking about asking her out.' James stared at Scorpius for a long time before he laughed.

'Yeah, whatever. I'm going to get on the train. I'll see you in our usual compartment?' Scorpius nodded and James hugged his parents in a goodbye before leaving.

'Did he actually believe me when I said that?'

'No. It'll only actually sink in when you and Lily actually date. Then I'd suggest steering clear of him.'

'For how long?'

Harry considered it for a moment. 'The rest of your life.' Scorpius raised his eyebrows and the whistle was blown, telling us that the train was going to leave soon.

'Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad.' Scorpius hugged us both.

'See you at Christmas, Scorpius. If you want to invite friends back to the Manor, just send us a letter. Good luck with Lily.' He winked and Scorpius rolled his eyes and walked off to the train. 'I'm going to miss you, Astrid.' Draco said as the two platinum blondes hugged.

'I'll miss you too, Dad. And you too, Mum.' I hugged her tightly.

'Remember to write to tell us what house you're in, and you know where the library is, right?' Astrid nodded. 'Good. We'll see you at Christmas.' She grinned at us and ran towards the train, but she was too small to be able to leap up onto it. Scorpius appeared at the doorway and lifted her up, and she squealed in delight as she was held in her big brother's arms. He put her down and he helped Hugo and Albus onto the train, and saw Lily stood on the platform behind them. They smiled at each, exchanged a few words, then Scorpius took both of her hands and helped her onto the train, even though she could have managed it by herself.

I smiled and Draco put his arm around me. All of the students clambered onto the Hogwarts Express and it began to pull out of the station. We waved to our children until the train was out of sight, and the rest of the parents began to leave the platform in dribs and drabs.

'Do you think Astrid will be okay?' I asked Draco.

'Were you okay on your first day?'

'Yes.'

'She'll be fine then.'

'What about you? How did you feel on your first day?'

Draco's expression was vacant for a moment. 'Scared as hell.'

'How come?'

'My father said he'd beat me if I didn't get into Slytherin.' I swivelled around in his hold to look at him.

'But he was under Voldemort's control.'

'I didn't know that at the time though. And what if Voldemort didn't decide to rise from the dead in fourth year? My dad could still be under his Imperius curse now.'

'But he didn't and he's not.' Draco nodded and looked down at the floor, his hold on my shoulders slackening ever so slightly. 'You are one of the bravest men that I have ever known. You abandoned your family prejudices, you stopped a rape from happening, you became a spy, you saved countless lives and you professed a forbidden love in front of Lord Voldemort himself. All for me. Nothing else matters. I love you.'

'I love you too.' He smiled and kissed me, then we left the station and went home to the Manor.

**A/N: **The end :')

Thank you to anyone who reviews this chapter. If you feel like there was something in the story that you don't fully understand, feel free to PM me and I'll get back to you

And **Spy in the Dark** got added to community the other day: I ran around the house screaming :D

Before anyone does ask, yes, Ron does have a wife, but I couldn't decide who he would have married, so I just left her ambiguously in the background. You can decide who it was. Their children are Rose and Hugo.

There will be more stories up on my profile eventually, I have ideas for a few other fan fictions, and some of them will be Dramione. I'm going to take a couple of weeks break before writing anything new though.

Thank you for everything guys! :D


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